WORKS  BY  J.  H.  GARRISON. 


The  Story  of  a  Century,  Cloth  $1.00 

The  Holy  Spirit,  Cloth   1.00 

Helps  to  Faith,  Cloth   1.00 

Alone  With  God,  Cloth  75 

Heavenward  Way,  Cloth  75 

Half -Hour  Studies  at  the  Cross,  Cloth  75 

A  Modern  Plea  for  Ancient  Truths,  Boards  35 

The  Old  Faith  Eestated  (Edited),  Cloth   2.00 

Reformation  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  (Edited), 

Cloth    2.00 

Our  First  Congress  (Edited),  Cloth   1.00 

Rightly  Dividing  the  Word,  Paper  05 

Congregationalists  and  Disciples,  Paper  15 

Union  and  Victory,  Paper  05 

Higher  Criticism,  Paper  05 

The  Disciples  of  Christ,  Paper  (dozen)  10 

Our  Movement:  Its  Origin  and  Aim,  Paper  10 

A  Nineteenth  Century  Movement,  Paper  10 

The  World's  Need  of  Our  Plea,  Paper  10 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/storyofcenturybrOOgarr_0 


'  Copyright  hy  Mrs.  Decima  CampbeU  Hitrclay. 

Alexander  Campbell. 


The  Story  of  a  Century 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch  and  Exposition 
of  the  Religious  Movement 
Inaugurated  by 
Thomas  and  Alexander  Campbell. 
1809—1909. 


By  J.  H.  GARRISON, 
Editor  of  "The  Christian-Evangelist,  '* 


"Call  to  remembremce  the  former  days, 
in  which,  after  ye  were  enlightened,  ye 
endured  a  great  confli<5l  of  suffering." 

—Heb.  1 0:^2. 


ST.  LOUIS: 
CHEISTIAN  PUELISHIXG  COMPANY. 
1909. 


Copyright,  1909. 
CHRISTIAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


DEDICATION. 


To  the  Memory  of  One  of  the  World's 
Great  Reformers, 

Alexander  Campbell, 

Who,  in  a  time  of  religious  indifference  and  sec- 
tarian strife,  was  catholic  without  being  Roman,  and 
protestant  without  being  sectarian;  who,  seeing  that 
union  among  Christians  was  essential  to  the  world's 
conversion,  saw,  also,  that  a  return  to  Christ  and 
His  Christianity  was  essential  to  union;  who, 
maligned  as  a  heretic  and  as  a  disturber  of  the  estab- 
lished order  of  things  by  many  in  his  day,  will  receive 
from  posterity  his  vindication  and  be  numbered  with 
the  world's  immortals;  whom  not  having  seen  we  love 
for  his  character  and  his  work's  sake,  this  volume  is 
affectionately  dedicated  by  the  author. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  Page. 

I— In  the  Fullness  of  Time   15 

II— The  Prime  Mover.    23 

III —  How  the  Movement  Originated  33 

IV —  Some  Guiding  Principles. . .  :   43 

V— The  Chief  Actor   53 

VI — Application  of  Principles   63 

VII— A  Change  of  Leaders   73 

M:II— Learners  of  Christ   83 

IX — Union  vrith  the  Baptists   91 

X— Mr.  Campbell's  Task  Outlined   99 

XI— Some  of  Mr.  Campbell's  Co-Laborers  109 

XII— A  Tributary  Movement  123 

XIII—  From  Darkness  to  Light— A  Great  Eevival  131 

XIV —  Disciples  and  Christians  Unite  141 

XV — The  Principles  of  Lenity  Vindicated  149 

XVI — Education  and  Organization  159 

XVII — Rapid  Numerical  Increase  169 

XVIII — Some  Personal  Factors  in  the  Movement   .179 

XIX— Hindrances  Without  191 

XX— Hindrances  Without  (Continued.)  203 

XXI— Hindrances  Without  (Continued.)  213 

XXII— Hindrances  Within  223 

XXIII—  Hindrances  Within  (Continued)  231 

XXIV—  The  Remedy  241 

XXV — Some  Things  Accomplished  -  .251 

XX^^— Some  Unfinished  Tasks  261 

XX\ai— The  Outlook  271 


''For  in  those  dark  and  iron  days  of  old, 
Arose,  amid  the  pigmies  of  their  age, 

Minds  of  a  massive  and  gigantic  mold, 

"Whom  we  must  measure  as  the  Cretan  sage 

Measured  the  pyramids  of  ages  past, 

By  the  far-reaching  shadows  that  they  cast." 


A  FOREWORD. 


This  is  not  a  history,  properly  speaking,  of  the 
people  best  known  throughout  the  world  as  Disci- 
ples of  Christ,  nor  of  the  current  Reformation  which 
they  advocate.  Others  have  written  such  histories, 
and  still  other  historians  of  the  future  will  write  more 
fully  of  that  movement  whose  beginning  is  one  of  the 
most  notable  events  of  the  past  century.  The  pres- 
ent effort  is  far  less  ambitious  than  that.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  draw  a  sketch  in  boldest  outline — a  sort 
of  bird's-eye  view — of  the  religious  movement  whose 
Centennial  we  are  to  celebrate  next  autumn.  The 
intention  is  to  present  just  enough  of  the  chief  facts, 
persons,  and  principles  of  the  movement,  to  furnish 
an  outline  study  for  those  who  have  not  hitherto 
acquainted  themselves  with  its  character  and  purpose. 
The  details  may  be  filled  in  later  by  those  who  wish 
to  make  a  more  thorough  study  of  the  subject.  It 
often  helps  readers  to  get  a  clearer  mental  grasp  of 
the  great  outstanding  facts  of  history  and  the  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  them,  not  to  obscure  these  im- 
portant matters  by  too  many  unimportant  details. 
These  may  be  acquired  when  the  leading  facts  and 
guiding  principles  are  mastered. 

The  chief  motive  in  such  a  sketch  as  is  proposed 
above,  at  this  time,  is  to  win  a  hearing  from  busy 

—9— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


men  who,  though  not  sufficiently  interested  to  under- 
take the  reading  of  an  elaborate  history,  would, 
nevertheless,  read  a  shorter  sketch  for  the  sake  of 
having  at  least  a  general  knowledge  of  a  religious 
movement  that  has  made  such  rapid  growth  and  has 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  on  the  religious  thought 
and  life  of  our  times.  It  is  believed,  too,  that  the 
time  is  propitious  for  such  a  hearing.  Our  Centen. 
nial  celebration,  which  is  approaching,  is  sure  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  many  people  to  our  Reformatory 
movement,  who  have  hitherto  taken  but  little  pains 
to  understand  its  meaning  and  mission.  To  furnish 
such  a  brief  statement  and  exposition  of  the  move- 
ment and  of  the  progress  it  has  made  during  the  cen- 
tury as  will  meet  the  demand  of  this  class  of  readers, 
as  well  as  of  many  among  us  who  will  not  take  time 
to  read  a  more  elaborate  history,  is  the  author's  aim. 
We  would  cherish  the  hope,  too,  that  many  of  these 
readers  will  become  so  interested  as  to  seek  further 
and  more  complete  information  than  we  shall  under- 
take to  furnish  in  this  brief  treatise. 

In  carrying  out  this  purpose,  it  will  be  necessary 
to  make  an  exposition  of  the  movement  itself,  as  well 
as  to  state  its  leading  facts  and  principles.  This  is 
more  necessary,  because,  like  every  new  movement 
in  the  history  of  the  world,  this  Reformation  has 
been  misconceived  and  misrepresented  so  that  many 
have  a  very  false  or  inadequate  view  of  its  real  char- 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


acter  and  purpose,  and  of  the  men  who  are  its  chief 
promoters.  Not  only  has  the  movement  been  mis- 
understood by  many  on  the  outside,  but  even  some 
of  its  professed  advocates  have  so  misconceived  and 
misrepresented  its  spirit  and  purpose  as  to  add  to  the 
confusion  in  the  public  mind  regarding  its  evangel- 
ical character  and  its  catholic  scope  and  aim.  The 
author  can  not  hope  to  be  able  to  give  such  an  ex- 
position of  its  meaning  as  will  command  the  approval 
of  every  type  of  mind  among  us,  but  he  does  hope  to 
make  such  a  statement  as  will  represent  the  prevail- 
ing judgment  and  sentiment,  not  only  of  the  leading 
minds  among  us,  but  of  the  great  mass  of  our  mem- 
bership. 

The  author  has  a  deep  sense  of  his  inability  for 
so  important  a  task  as  is  here  outlined,  and  it  is 
only  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  others  that  he  has 
undertaken  to  prepare  this  condensed  story  of  a  cen- 
tury. He  shall  earnestly  seek,  and  shall  confidently 
expect  to  receive,  the  help  and  guidance  of  that 
illuminating  Spirit,  whose  presence  in  the  church 
and  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  believers  is  the  hope  of 
all  future  growth  and  progress. 


—11— 


INTRODUCTION. 


There  is  an  urgent  and  widespread  demand  for  a  popular 
history  of  the  great  religious  movement  known  as  the  Current 
Reformation.  A  large  and  ever-increasing  number  of  people 
wish  information  concerning  its  genesis  and  growth.  This 
demand  receives  special  emphasis  at  this  time  from  the  fact  that 
the  hundredth  anniversary  of  this  reformatory  movement  is  to 
be  celebrated  in  Pittsburgh  in  October  of  the  present  year (1909). 
'The  Story  of  a  Century'*  was  written  in  response  to  this 
demand.  The  timeliness  of  its  appearance  greatly  enhances  its 
value. 

The  author  is  particularly  well  qualified  to  write  such  a  his- 
tory. As  the  editor  of  a  religious  newspaper  for  forty  years  he 
has  found  it  necessary  to  discuss  the  principles  and  objects  and 
and  results  of  the  movement  many  times.  This  constant  discus- 
sion has  familiarized  him  with  every  phase  of  the  subject. 

Richardson's  "Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell"  will  always 
have  the  greatest  value.  That  work  is  a  classic,  and  must  be 
read  by  any  one  who  wishes  to  acquaint  himself  thoroughly 
with  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Current  Reformation  during 
the  first  sixty  years  of  its  history.  But  the  Memoirs  are  too 
elaborate  for  the  general  reader.  Richardson  wrote  at  such 
length  that  only  scholars  and  specialists  read  his  bulky  and 
splendid  volumes. 

—13— 


Introduction 


"The  Story  of  a  Century'*  is  a  work  of  such  compass  that  all 
who  are  interested  in  the  subject  of  which  it  treats  can  find 
time  to  read  it.  The  author  has  covered  the  ground  covered  by 
Richardson,  though  necessarily  much  more  briefly,  and  has 
given  an  account  of  what  has  been  accomplished  during  the  last 
forty  years,  the  period  that  has  elapsed  since  Richardson 
wrote. 

The  writer  of  this  volume  believes  with  all  his  heart  in  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  current  Reformation,  and  has  con- 
tended for  them  with  great  ability  throughout  his  entire  ed- 
itorial career  Moreover,  he  has  unbounded  admiration  for  the 
men  and  women  who  were  the  exponents  and  champions  of 
those  principles.  He  has  written  with  the  highest  appreciation 
of  the  heroic  pioneers  and  their  successors;  he  honors  the  great 
men  God  raised  up  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  own  eternal 
purpose,  and  glories  in  their  exploits  and  achievements. 

A  new  generation  has  grown  up  since  Richardson  published 
his  immortal  work.  This  new  generation  and  the  whole 
religious  world  should  know  about  this  movement  that  is  now 
engaging  the  attention  of  mankindo  If  they  will  read  "The 
Story  of  a  Century"  they  will  know  far  more  than  they  now 
know.  Those  who  are  interested  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  will 
find  this  history  far  more  fascinating  and  immeasurably  more  in- 
structive than  anytnovel.  It  is  easy  and  delightful  reading. 
One  who  takes  it  up  will  not  willingly  lay  it  down  until  the  last 
page  has  been  read.  "The  Story  of  a  Century"  is  one  of  the  few 
books  that  the  reader  wishes  were  longer. 

ARCHIBAI.D  McIvBAN. 

Cincinnati,  Aug.  6,  1909. 


—14— 


1 


CHAPTER  I. 
In  The  Fullness  of  Time. 


I  doubt  whether  religion  was  ever  at  a 
lower  ebb  in  the  North  Atlantic  States  thap 
it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
centurv.  The  teaching  that  man  could  do 
nothing  had  borne  its  natural  fruit  in  in- 
differentism.  .  .  .  Westward  the  star  of  em- 
pire was  taking  its  way,  but  there  was  no 
home  missionarv  society  to  plant  the  church 
or  the  schoolhouse  in  the  border  settlements. 
The  pagan  world  dwelt  in  a  great  darkness, 
and  there  was  no  foreign  missionary  society 
to  send  thither  the  Gospel.  The  opposition 
to  religious  revivals  was  so  great  as  to  lead 
the  Consociation  of  Connecticut  in  1741 
to  de<!lare  against  the  use  of  evangelists 
for  the  promotion  of  revivals,  and  the 
Legislature  of  that  state  to  enact  laws 
against  their  activity.  The  reaction  which 
this  religion  of  fatalism  produced  was  not 
unnatural,  but  it  was  not  intelligent. 
Thomas  Paine  was  its  most  popular  expo- 
nent, and  his  superficial  arguments  against 
Christianity  had  la  vogue  in  intellectual 
circles  which  it  is  difficult  for  us  now  to 
comprehend.  In  Yale  University  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  were 
two  Thomas  Paine  Sor-ieties,  and  only  four 
or  five  professed  members  of  the  Christian 
Church." — Lyman  Ah^ott,  on  A  Century 
of  Progress, 


1 


CHAPTER  L 

In  the  Fullness  of  Time. 

Jesus  Christ  came  in  the  fullness  of  time.  That 
is,  he  came  at  that  point  in  time  when  his  mission 
would  count  for  most.  So  every  movement  for  the 
world's  betterment  that  has  made  a  permanent  im- 
pression on  the  thought  and  life  of  men  has  come  in 
the  fullness  of  time.  The  world  needed  it,  and  it 
came  to  supply  that  need.  We  can  not,  therefore, 
judge  rightly  any  movement,  whether  in  religious, 
govermental  or  social  reform,  without  knowing 
something  of  the  conditions  out  of  which  the  move- 
ment arose. 

The  religious  reformation  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, which  is  the  theme  of  this  story,  was,  in  an 
important  sense,  the  child  of  its  time.  It  grew  out 
of  conditions  which  prevailed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century.  It  was  an  effort  to  remedy  the  abnor- 
mal condition  of  the  church  and  of  religious  life 
which  then  existed.  It  was  a  moral  necessity  under 
the  divine  government.  It  had  to  be.  It  was  as  inevit- 
able as  the  tides,  or  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes. 
It  v/as  the  necessary  result  of  a  living  and  reign- 

—17— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


ing  Christ  who,  though  exalted  above  all  principali- 
ties and  powers  as  *'head  over  all  things  to  the 
Church"  which  he  established,  is  fulfilling  his  ancient 
promise,  *'IyO,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.'*  The  fullness  of  time  in  which 
this  movement  had  its  origin  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  facts: 

I.  All  accounts  agree  that  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  was  marked  by  a  widespread  un- 
belief, amounting,  in  many  cases,  to  atheism.  A 
number  of  causes  contributed  to  this  condition  of 
things,  chiefly,  perhaps,  the  deism  among  English 
thinkers  of  the  eighteenth  century,]the  French  Revo- 
lution with  its  extreme  reaction  against  religion  in 
that  country,  the  war  of  the  Revolution  through 
which  this  country  had  just  passed,  together  with  the 
spiritual  deadness  of  the  churches.  It  is  not  strange, 
under  such  conditions,  that  the  students  in  connec- 
tion with  the  various  insitutions  of  learning  were 
skeptics.  In  the  American  Church  History  Series, 
Volume  12,  it  is  said  that  "When  Theodore  Dwight 
became  president  of  Yale  College  in  1795,  only  four 
or  five  students  were  members  of  the  church.  The 
predominant  thought  was  skeptical.  *  *  * 
The  College  of  William  and  Mary  was  a  hotbed  of 
unbelief."  Transylvania  University,  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege and  other  institutions  of  learning  were  in  the 
same  condition.     Professional  men  of  the  early  part 

—18— 


The  Story  oi^  a  Century. 


of  the  last  century  were  largely  unbelievers.  Natur- 
ally enough,  out  of  this  skepticism  there  flowed  a 
stream  of  immorality,  manifesting  itself  in  various 
ways. 

2.  As  one  of  the  causes  producing  this  unbelief 
and  immorality,  and  one  of  the  conditions  indicating 
the  necessity  of  a  religious  reform,  religious  partyism  j 
prevailed  among  the  churches  to  an  almost  incredible 
degree.  It  is  difficult  for  us  who  live  in  these  freer 
times,  when  religious  liberty  has  gained  the  ascend- 
ency, to  imagine  the  bitterness  of  party  spirit,,  and 
the  servitude  to  custom  and  tradition,  which  pre- 
vailed at  this  period.  The  following  statement 
quoted  from  Dr.  Richardson's  Memoirs,  describes  the 
condition  which  prevailed  in  the  first  decade  of  the 
last  century:  **Each  party  strove  for  surpremacy, 
and  maintained  its  peculiarities  with  a  zeal  as  ardent 
and  persecuting  as  the  laws  of  the  land  and  the  use- 
ages  of  society  would  premit.  The  distinguishing 
tenets  of  each  party  were  constantly  thundered  from 
the  pulpit,  and  any  departure  from  the  ^traditions  of 
the  elders'  was  visited  at  once  with  the  severest 
ecclesiastical  censure.  Covenanting,  church  politics, 
church  psalmody,  hyper-Calvinistic  questions,  were 
the  great  topics  of  the  day,  and  such  was  the  rigid, 
uncompromising  spirit  prevailing  that  the  most  trivial 
things  would  produce  a  schism,  so  that  old  members 
were  known  to  break  off  from  their  congregations 

—19— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


simply  because  the  clerk  presumed  to  give  out,  be- 
fore singing,  two  lines  of  a  psalm  instead  of  one^  as 
bad  been  the  usual  custom."  Pp.  245-6.  Each 
sect  or  party  seemed  to  regard  itself  as  the  only 
true  representative  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth, 
and  its  aim  seems  to  have  been  to  oppose  and  pull 
down  all  other  existing  religious  organizations.  To 
build  up  the  denominational  walls  higher,  and  to 
fortify  themselves  against  each  other  more  securely, 
seems  to  have  been  the  chief  occupation  of  ministers 
and  other  active  workers.  The  spirit  of  brotherly 
love  had  been  driven  out  by  the  spirit  of  party  strife 
and  hatred. 

There  must  have  been,  of  course,  exceptions  to 
this  rule,  but  such  was  the  condition  which  generally 
prevailed.  Does  any  one  imagine  that  a  state  of 
things  like  that  could  be  permanent?  Was  not  some 
organized  movement  to  remedy  these  evils  a  necessity 
of  the  times?  Must  not  the  loving  heart  of  Christ 
have  been  grieved  over  the  condition  of  his  church? 
We  can  but  think  that  he  v;ho  prayed  for  the  unity  of 
his  followers  was  only  biding  the  time  and  the  place 
for  a  movement  to  promote  that  unity  for  which  he 
prayed. 

3.  The  third  fact  to  be  mentioned,  as  indicating 
the  fullness  of  time  for  such  a  movement  in  this 
country,  is  that  it  had  recently  thrown  off  its  alle- 
giance to  Great  Britain,  and  here  in  the  New  World  a 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


new  Republic  was  born,  "dedicated  to  the  proposi- 
tion that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal."  Here, 
on  the  free  soil  of  America,  where  religious  liberty 
was  recognized  and  guarded  by  the  organic  law  of 
the  land,  there  was  an  opportunity  such  as  had  never 
existed  before  in  any  age,  or  in  any  land,  to  inaugu- 
rate a  movement  looking  to  the  healing  of  the  divis- 
ions in  the  church  and  the  restoration  of  those  fea- 
tures which  had  been  lost  from  it  during  the  period 
of  its  apostasy.  Surely  the  need  existed  for  such  a 
reformation;  Jesus  Christ  had  prayed  for  it,  and  here, 
in  this  land  of  freedom,  which,  as  Emerson  says,  is 
another  name  for  opportunity,  was  the  great  oppor- 
tunity, not  only  for  a  union  of  the  states,  but  for  the 
union  of  the  churches  under  Jesus  Christ. 

But  God  carries  forward  the  great  movements  in 
his  church  through  men.  "The  spirit  of  a  man  is 
the  candle  of  the  Lord."  In  the  preparation  for 
Christianity  the  spirit  of  John  the  Baptist  became  the 
candle  of  the  Lord,  and  he  was  a  "bright  and  shin- 
ing light"  for  his  day.  In  the  first  century  Paul  was 
the  chosen  instrument  for  bringing  the  young 
church  out  of  the  thraldom  of  Judaism  into  its  larger 
life  and  liberty.  In  the  sixteenth  century  Luther 
was  God's  agent  for  instituting  a  religious  reforma- 
tion which  profoundly  affected  the  life  of  the  church 
for  all  time.  A  little  later  John  Calvin,  and  then,  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  John  Wesley,  became  candles 

—21— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 

of  the  hord  for  their  age  and  generation.  Had  God 
any  human  agent  prepared  for  the  mighty  work  of 
reform  which  was  demanded  in  his  church  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century? 


—22— 


> 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Prime  Mover. 


Not  to  men  of  greatest  intellect  does  God 
communicate  his  message  for  a  given  time 
of  crisis  in  the  history  of  hiis  providential 
movements  in  the  world,  but  to  men  of 
purest  heart,  of  humblest  mind,  of  greatest 
hunger  to  know  and  do  the  will  of  God, 
of  greatest  willingness  to  suffer  for  truth's 
sake,  and  to  be  counted  a  heretic,  if  need 
be,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advance- 
ment of  His  kingdom.  Such  men  were  Mo> 
ses,  and  Isaiah,  and  Paul  of  Bible  times, 
■and  such  have  been  the  men  who,  in  the 
centuries  of  Christian  history,  have  done 
most  to  enrich  the  world  with  spiritual  truth. 
Such  a  man  was  Thomas  Campbell,  the  edu- 
cated but  humble  and  believing  Presby- 
terian minister,  who,  landing  in  the  New 
World,  opened  his  mind  and  heart  to  re- 
ceive God's  truth  for  his  age  and  genera- 
tion. 


—24— 


Thomas  Campbell. 


CHAPTER  II. 


The  Prime  Mover. 

In  unnoticed  and  humble  events  God  often  hides 
the  seeds  of  coming  revolutions  and  reformations. 
On  a  May  day  in  the  year  1807  an  Atlantic  sailing 
vessel  landed  in  Philadelphia,  and  among  the  pas- 
sengers who  passed  along  the  gangplank  and 
stepped  upon  the  shores  of  the  New  World  was  an 
Irishman  with  Scottish  blood  in  his  veins.  He  was 
alone  and  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  A  glance  at 
his  face  and  manner  would  have  revealed  to  any  good 
judge  of  human  nature  the  fact  that  this  new-comer 
was  no  ordinary  foreigner  seeking  his  fortune  in  this 
land  of  promise.  His  high  intellectual  forehead,  his 
handsome  face  and  features,  his  courtly  bearing, 
showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  broad  culture,  and  of  un- 
usual ability,  while  his  deep  earnestness  and  grave 
demeanor  would  have  marked  him  as  a  preacher  of 
the  gospel.  Thousands  of  vessels  before  and  since 
have  landed  their  passengers  from  the  Old  World  at 
that  and  other  harbors.  Was  there  anything  in  this 
particular  arrival  of  special  significance  to  the  New 
World?  As  God  sees  and  measures  events  there 
—25— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


was,  for  this  Irisli  clergyman  was  Thomas  Campbell, 
a  minister  in  the  Seceders'  Branch  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  who  was  soon  to  deposit  a  seed  of 
truth  in  the  soil  of  the  New  World  that  was  to  bring 
forth  an  abundant  harvest  in  the  field  of  religious  re- 
form. 

In  mentioning  the  name  of  Thomas  Campbell, 
the  prime  mover  in  the  religious  reformation,  whose 
story  in  brief  outline  is  to  be  told  in  these  articles, 
we  are  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  there  were 
other  movements  having  in  view  the  same  general 
aim,  which  antedated  that  of  the  Campbells.  In 
many  places,  as  in  New  England,  under  the  ministry 
of  Abner  Jones,  in  New  York  City,  in  a  church  made 
up  largely  of  Scotch  Baptists,  in  Kentucky  under  the 
ministry  of  Barton  W.  Stone,  and  others,  there  was 
manifested  a  deep  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing 
condition  of  the  religious  world,  and  efforts  were 
made  in  the  way  of  religious  reformation,  having  in 
view  the  reinstatement  of  the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  ^ 
of  faith  and  practice  and  the  unity  of  God's  people. 
Most  of  these  became  tributary  to  the  religious  refor- 
mation whose  prime  mover  was  Thomas  Campbell, 
and  whose  chief  actor  and  guiding  spirit  in  its  devel- 
opment was  his  son  Alexander  Campbell.  This 
movement  had  within  it  the  elements  of  truth  con- 
tained in  the  others,  together  with  some  additional 
features  which  have  helped  to  make  it  the  most 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


potent  factor  in  the  work  of  religious  reform  during 
the  nineteenth  century. 

Thomas  Campbell,  whose  arrival  in  the  New  World 
has  just  been  mentioned,  was  born  in  County  Down, 
Ireland,  on  February  i,  1763.  He  traced  his  geneal- 
ogy to  the  Campbells  of  Argyle,  Scotland.  He  was, 
therefore,  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  an  element  of  our 
American  life  which  has  contributed  much,  in  many 
fields  of  labor,  to  the  greatness  of  our  country.  His 
father,  Archibald  Campbell,  was  a  Romanist,  and 
served  as  a  soldier  in  the  British  army  under  General 
Wolfe.  Later  in  life  he  abjured  Romanism  and  be- 
came a  strict  member  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Thomas,  after  his  conversion,  became  identified 
with  the  Seceder  Branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  early  decided  to  devote  himself  to  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  for  which  he  prepared  himself  first  by  a 
preparatory  course  of  study  at  a  private  school,  and 
afterwards  by  a  three-years*  course  in  the  University 
of  Glasgow,  taking  the  prescribed  course  for  minis- 
terial students.  After  completing  his  literary  course 
at  the  university  he  entered  the  theological  school  of 
the  Anti-Burghers,  a  branch  of  the  Seceders*  Church, 
to  which  he  belonged.  He  completed  the  appointed 
course  here,  and  in  due  time  was  licensed  to  preach. 
Before  entering  upon  the  active  work  of  the  ministry 
he  conducted  very  successfully  some  private  schools. 
Later,  however,  he  became  a  regular  minister  in  con- 


The  Storv  of  a  Century. 


nection  witli  the  Synod  of  Belfast  and  the  pastor  of 
the  church  in  Ahorey,  where  he  was  distinguished 
for  his  earnest  and  indefatigfable  labors.  In  his  biosf- 
raphy,  by  his  son  Alexander,  it  is  said  of  him  that 
'*he  was  the  most  earnest,  indefatigable  and  devoted 
minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Synod  to  which  he  be- 
longed. In  preaching,  teaching  and  in  visiting  his 
charge,  inculcating  personal  and  family  religion,  he 
had  certainly  no  superior;  and,  so  far  as  we  could 
ascertain,  no  equal."  Before  leaving  Ireland' he  took 
an  active  part  in  seeking  to  bring  about  a  union  be- 
tween the  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Ireland. 

Prof.  Charles  Louis  Loos,  who  knew  Thomas 
Campbell  personally  for  many  years,  said  of  him: 

He  was  a  man  of  large  brains,  of  superior  natural  endowments. 
And  what  was  notable  in  him  in  this  respect  was  the  well-bal- 
anced adjustment  of  these  gifts.  ♦  *  *  He  had,  also,  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education  and  a  rich  literary  culture.  ♦  *  ♦ 
As  with  Luther  and  Calvin,  the  Word  of  God  was  to  him  the  sov- 
ereign law  of  decision  in  religion  and  in  the  conduct  of  life.  To 
the  end  of  his  life  he  held  the  profoundest  evangelical  convic. 
tion  concerning  the  Bible  and  Christian  doctrine.  A  valuable 
characteristic  of  this  Christian  hero  was  his  firmness  of  convic- 
tion. He  was  not,  as  might  be  supposed  from  his  marked  cour- 
tesy and  gentleness  of  disposition,  ready  to  yield  like  Melanch- 
thon  under  hard  pressure.  *  *  On  the  contrary,  he  had  all  the 
courage  of  the  Scotch  Covenanter.  He  never  yielded  when  con- 
scious of  right  in  any  important  matter,  especially  when  the 
Word  of  God  was  at  stake.  *  *  Thomas  Campbell's  character 
was  adorned  with  a  charm  of  genuine  courtesy  and  refinement  of 

—28— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


manner;  he  was  a  true  gentleman,  and  these  qualities  were  worth 
much  to  him  as  a  Christian  reformer.  The  crowning  grace  in  the 
life  of  this  eminent  servant  of  God  was  his  deep,  unaffected 
piety.  It  was  a  piety  that  was  true  'godliness'  and  was,  like  that 
of  his  great  son,  healthy  and  manly,  free  from  every  taint  of  pie- 
tism.* 

Nothing  reveals  more  clearly  the  real  character 
of  a  man  than  his  personal  letters.  His  biography 
by  his  son,  Alexander,  contains  a  number  of  these 
letters,  written  while  out  in  the  field  doing  the  work 
of  an  evangelist,  to  his  son,  to  his  wife,  and  to  his 
daughter.  In  a  letter  to  his  son,  written  from  Ken- 
tucky he  says: 

You  can  not  conceive  what  a  terrible  dust  our  humble  name 
has  kicked  up.  If  it  were  not  coupled  with  the  pure  cause  of 
God — the  ancient  gospel  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  sacred  order  of 
things  established  by  his  holy  apostles — I  should  tremble  for  the 
consequences.  But,  alas,  the  enemies  have  blasphemed  the 
blessed  gospel,  by  pasting  our  sinful  name  upon  it  to  bring  it 
into  disrepute. 

In  a  letter  to  his  daughter,  written  from  North 
Carolina  in  1834,  he  says: 

Yes,  thanks  be  to  God,  like  John  I  have  had  my  Patmos  re- 
cesses. By  him  I  am  exempted  from  the  attachments  of  a  known 
world.  I  have  been  thrown  back  upon  myself,  having  no  con- 
scious friend  to  look  to,  in  whose  ears  or  bosom  I  might  repose 
my  cares,  but  that  ever-present,  ever-conscious  Guardian,  Pro" 
tector,  Friend,  of  whom  it  is  written,  "Cast  all  your  cares  on  him' 
for  he  careth  for  you."  Sweet  necessity!  that  shuts  us  out  and 
shuts  us  to  him  alone.  I  walk  out  alone  and  solitary  to  the  fields 

♦Reformation  of  the  Isineteenth  Ceiitury. 

—29— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


and  groves,  to  indulge  in  meditation,  and  commune  in  holy  as 
pirations,  in  looks,  sighs  and  tears,  with  my  everywhere  and 
ever  present  Father — the  Great  I  Am — to  whom  I  freely  speak  as  it 
occurs  upon  any  subject  of  these  vast  and  mighty  concerns,  say- 
ing, Thou  art  knowledge,  power,  wisdom,  goodness,  justice, 
truth,  holiness,  love,  mercy  and  condescension. 

Here  is  another  extract  from  a  letter  written  his 
son  from  Virginia  in  1832: 

The  opponents  here  are  doing  all  they  can,  but  the  cause  of 
reform  is  daily  gathering  strength,  is  in  the  ascendant.  If  the 
public  advocates  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press  would  only  keep 
their  temper,  use  soft  words  and  hard  arguments,  it  would  jpro- 
gress  still  more,  "for  the  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteous- 
ness of  God."  May  we  not  expose  evils  without  exposing  per- 
sons that  practice  them,  further  than  to  endeavor  affectionately 
to  convince  them  that  they  are  wrong?  *  *  *  Moreover  the 
servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive.  But  be  gentle  to  all,  apt  to 
teach;  patient;  in  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose  them- 
selves; if  God  perad venture  will  give  them  repentance  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth;  that  so  they  may  recover  themselves  out 
of  the  snare  of  the  devil  who  are  taken  captive  by  his  will.  *  * 
I  most  cordially  wish  never  to  see  or  hear  one  ironic  hint,  one 
retaliative  retort  by  any  friend  or  advocate  of  the  reformation. 
Let  these  weapons  remain  the  exclusive  property  of  the  disputers 
of  this  world.  When  a  soldier  of  the  faith  assumes  them  he 
loses  caste.  They  sit  awkwardly  upon  him,  as  Saul's  armor  did 
of  old  upon  the  champion  of  Israel;  till  laid  aside  he  can  not 
conquer.    Speaking  the  truth  in  love  is  the  Christian  motto. 

Well  would  it  have  been  if  the  admonition  had 
been  heeded  by  all  the  advocates  of  this  Reformation. 

Such  was  the  Christian  character  of  Thomas 
Campbell,  a  man  of  ardent  faith,  of  profoundest 
humility,  of  deepest  piety  and  devotion,  of  sincere 

—30— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


reverence  for  the  Word  of  God,  of  whose  work  it  is 
said  by  our  opponents,  that  it  is  wholly  outward  and 
concerned  merely  with  forms  and  doctrines!  It  has 
seemed  proper  to  give  this  brief  sketch  of  the  man 
himself  and  of  his  splendid  personality,  before  call- 
ing attention  to  his  special  contribution  to  the  refor- 
mation of  the  nineteenth  century. 


—31— 


CHAPTER  III. 
How  The  Movement  Originated 


Where  the  Scriptures  speak,  we  speak: 
where  the  Scriptures  are  silent,  we  are 
silent. — Thomas  Campbell. 

"Nothing  ought  to  be  received  into  the  faith 
and  worship  of  the  church,  or  be  made  a  term  of 
commumion  among  Christians  that  is  not  as  old 
as  the  New  Testament." 

"Union  in  Truth  is  our  motto.  The  Divine 
Lord  is  our  standard;  in  the  Lord's  name  do  we 
display  our  banners.  Our  eyes  are  upon  the  prooi- 
ises." 

"We  have  no  nostrum,  no  peculiar  discovery  of 
our  own  to  propose  to  fellow  Christians,  for  the 
fancied  importance  of  which  they  should  become 
followers  of  us.  We  propose  to  patronize  nothing 
but  the  inculcation  of  the  express  word  of  God — 
either  as  to  matter  of  faith  or  practice; — but  every 
one  that  has  a  Bible  and  can  read  it,  can  read 
this  for  himself." — Thomas  Campbell. 

Here  were  the  germs  of  a  great  relig- 
ious movement  in  the  Church  looking  to  its 
purification  and  unification.  It  led  to  a 
re- discovery  of  Christ.  A  new  and  inde- 
pendent study  of  the  Scriptures  took  Christ 
out  of  the  circumference,  where  the  the- 
ology had  placed  him,  and  put  him  in  the 
center,  as  the  sole  object  of  saving  faith, 
the  only  authority  in  Christianity  and 
the  only  bnsis  of  Christian  union.  It  gave 
a  new  sctt'ng  to  and  interpretation  of  the 
saying  of  Eupcrtus  Mildenius — *'In  things 
essential  unity;  in  things  not  essential 
liberty  ■  in  all  things  charity. ' ' 


CHAPTER  III. 


How  THE  Movement  Originated. 

In  the  personality  of  Thomas  Campbell,  as  we 
have  briefly  sketched  it,  we  have  seen  a  fit  instru- 
ment for  God  to  use  in  introducing  a  religious 
reformation.  He  was  possessed  of  fine  natural  abil- 
ity, had  received  a  good  literary  and  theological 
training,  and  was  humble,  devout,  teachable,  with 
an  unquestioning  faith  in,  and  a  reverence  for, 
God's  Word.  As  previously  stated,  he  was  a  min- 
ister in  the  Seceder  Branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  one  of  the  strictest  branches  in  that  body. 
On  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia  on  May  27,  1807,  be- 
ing in  his  forty-fourth  year,  he  found  the  Seceder 
Synod  of  North  America  in  session  and,  presenting 
his  credentials,  he  was  cordially  received  and  as- 
signed to  the  Presbytery  of  Chartiers,  in  Southwest- 
ern Pennsylvania.  lyocating  in  the  town  of  Wash- 
ington, in  Washington  county,  he  began  work  at 
once  among  the  Seceder  congregations  in  that  region. 
Having  been  sent  up  the  Allegheny  valley  to  hold  a 
sacrament  of  the  I^ord's  Supper  among  the  scattered 
members  of  that  flock,  he  found  members  belonging 

—35— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


to  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  body,  and 
being  compassionate  toward  them  he  ignored  their 
denominational  distinctions  and  invited  them  all  to 
the  communion  service.  He  was  accompanied  by  a 
young  theologian  of  the  same'body  who,  taking  note 
of  his  liberal  sentiments  and  of  his  charity,  which 
was  wider  than  his  own  particular  branch,  made  com- 
plaint before  the  Presbytery  that  Mr.  Campbell  was 
not  * 'sound''  in  the  unadultered  faith  of  the  Seced- 
ers.  The  Presbytery  had  already  observed  the 
breadth  of  Mr.  Campbell's  teaching  and  sympathy, 
and  were  quite  disposed  to  entertain  complaints 
against  him.  His  defense,  however,  was  that  he  had 
done  nothing  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  and  chal- 
lenged his  accusers  to  point  out  where  he  had  trans- 
gressed the  Word  of  God.  It  was  enough,  however, 
that  he  had  transgressed  the  "Seceder  Testimony," 
and  for  this  reason  he  was  reprimanded. 

CENSURED  FOR  HIS  LIBERALITY. 

Assured  of  the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  Thomas 
Campbell  appealed  to  the  Seceder  Synod  of  North 
America,  which  was  the  highest  court  in  the  church, 
and  in  his  appeal  to  them  shows  clearly  the  direction 
in  which  his  mind  is  tending.  He  protests  against 
the  injustice  of  thrusting  out  from  their  communion 
''a  Christian  brother,  a  fellow  minister,  for  saying 
and  doing  none  other  things  than  those  which  our 

—36— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Divine  Ivord  and  his  Holy  Apostles  have  taught,  and 
enjoined  to  be  spoken  and  done  by  his  people/'  He 
hopes  that  *'it  is  no  presumption  to  believe  that  say- 
ing and  doing  the  very  same  things  that  are  said  and 
done  before  our  eyes  on  the  sacred  page,  is  infallibly 
right,  as  well  as  all-sufficient  to  the  edification  of  the 
church,  whose  duty  and  perfection  is  in  all  things  to 
the  conformed  to  the  original  standard."  In  the 
innocence  of  his  heart  he  asks  his  brethern  of  the 
Synod  this  question:  *'Is  it,  therefore,  because  I 
plead  the  cause  of  the  scriptural  and  apostolic  wor- 
ship of  the  church,  in  opposition  to  the  various  er- 
rors and  schisms  which  have  so  awfully  corrupted 
and  divided  it,  that  the  brethren  of  the  Union  should 
feel  it  difficult  to  admit  me  as  their  fellow  laborer  in 
that  blessed  work?"  It  was  exactly  for  that  reason 
that  Thomas  Campbell  found  himself  under  censure. 
While  setting  aside  the  action  of  the  Presbytery  as 
irregular,  the  Synod  nevertheless  censured  Thomas 
Campbell  for  expressing  sentiments  '*very  different 
from  those  held  and  professed  by  this  church." 

Even  this  sharp  rebuke  was  not  sufficient  to  cut 
the  tie  that  bound  this  devoted  preacher  to  the  church 
with  which  he  had  been  so  long  identified,  and  he 
submitted  to  the  censure  with  the  explanation  that 
his  submission  should  be  understood  to  mean  no  more 
on  his  part  than  an  act  of  deference  to  the  judgment  of 
the  court  that  he  might  avoid  giving  offense  to  hivS 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


brethren.  He  still  hoped  that  his  brethren  would 
see  the  reasonableness  of  his  plea  for  healing  the 
divisions  in  the  church  by  returning  to  a  stricter 
conformity  to  the  Word  of  God.  Instead  of  this, 
however,  the  opposition  to  him  grew  more  intense 
until  it  became  evident  to  him  that  God  was  leading 
him  in  another  way.  It  is  wonderful  how  God,  by 
outward  circumstances,  guides  and  shapes  the  course 
of  men  whom  he  has  chosen  to  do  his  work?  It  is 
clear  enough  to  us  who  live  in  these  later  days  that  his 
great  work  as  a  reformer  could  never  have  been  ac- 
complished in  connection  with  this  "straightest  sect'' 
of  the  Calvinistic  faith,  but  it  required  the  kind  of  op- 
position which  he  received  to  convince  him  that  he 
must  sever  his  relation  with  the  church  of  his  first 
love  in  order  to  accomplish  the  work  which  God 
wanted  him  to  do.  He  therefore  served  notice  on  the 
Synod  that  he  was  no  longer  subject  to  its  control, 
and  that  he  surrendered  *'all  ministerial  connection" 
with  it,  and  held  himself  henceforth  independent  of 
its  authority. 

A  RULE  OF  REFORMATION. 

This  decisive  step  was  not  taken  without  personal 
grief,  we  may  be  sure,  but  it  was  taken  under  a 
solemn  sense  of  duty,  which  afterwards  brought  its  re- 
ward in  a  new  sense  of  freedom  in  the  service  of  God. 
He  continued  his  ministerial  labors,  however,  meeting 

—38— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


in  private  dwellings,  barns,  schoolhouses,  and  in  the 
groves,  God's  first  temple.  At  his  suggestion  a 
meeting  was  held  not  long  afterwards  to  take  counsel 
on  the  best  method  to  pursue  to  accomplish  some 
definite  results  in  the  way  of  religious  reform.  It 
was  a  deeply  interesting  and  a  very  solemn  meeting- 
Thomas  Campbell  spoke  at  considerable  length,  de. 
ploring  the  evils  of  our  sectarian  divisions,  and  plead- 
ing for  union  on  the  Bible  alone  as  the  only  infalli- 
ble standard  of  faith  and  duty.  It  was  in  this  address 
that,  seeking  for  some  rule  of  action  that  would  guide 
their  course,  he  exclaimed:  "That  rule,  my  highly 
respected  hearers,  is  this:  ''WJiere  the  Scriptures 
speak^  we  speak;  where  the  Scriptures  are  silent^  we 
are  silent.^  "  The  saying  pleased  the  people,  in  the 
main,  who  seemed  to  feel  that  here  was  a  principle 
enunciated  that  would  guide  them  out  of  bondage  to 
human  traditions  and  speculations  into  the  liberty 
and  unity  which  are  in  Christ. 

What  did  Thomas  Campbell  and  those  who 
agreed  with  him  mean  by  the  adoption  and  use  of 
this  motto?  So  greatly  has  this  saying  been  abused 
by  those  who  profess  to  accept  it,  that  it  seems  worth 
while  to  raise  this  question  at  this  point.  The  true 
answer  to  it  must  be  found  in  an  understanding  of  the 
condition  of  things  in  the  religious  world  at  that 
time,  from  which  it  was  the  purpose  of  these  men  to 
escape.    There  was  a  whole  mass  of  traditions  and 

—39— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


commandments  of  men  which  had  been  bound  upon 
the  consciences  of  the  people,  vrhich  many  had  come 
to  regard  as  sacred  and  as  binding  as  the  Word  of 
God  itself.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  divine 
commandments  were  lightly  regarded,  having  been 
made  void  by  the  commandments  of  men.  It  was  to 
meet  this  condition  of  things  that  Thomas  Camp- 
bell uttered  his  famous  saying. 

MEANING   OF  THE  RULE. 

^''IVliere  the  Scriptures  speak  zee  speak^^^  mea-nt  to 
Thomas  Campbell  and  his  co-laborers  that  they  were 
determined  to  be  loyal  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  to 
follow  it  whithersoever  it  might  lead  them.  A 
"thus  saith  the  Lord"  was  to  be  the  end  of  all  con- 
troversy. ^^JVJiere  the  Scriptures  are  silent  we  are 
silent meant  that  these  reformers  were  equally  de- 
termined to  resist  all  human  authcrity  in  religion. 
Where  God  left  the  w^ay  open  for  the  exercise  of 
human  freedom,  there  no  man  should  bind  them. 
What  God  does  not  require  of  us,  in  order  to  salva- 
tion, no  human  authority  has  a  right  to  make  a  con- 
dition of  salvation,  or  of  fellowship. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  this  say- 
ing of  Thomas  Campbell  was  a  two-edged  sword,  one 
edge  cutting  off  the  pretended  liberty  to  ignore  or 
slight  what  God  has  commanded,  and  the  other  edge 
cutting  away  the  pretendefl  authorit«y  that  attempts 

—40— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


to  bind  men  where  God  has  left  them  free.  The 
principle  of  Thomas  Campbell  leaves  the  church  no 
alternative  but  to  accept  and  practice  every  divine 
ordinance  and  doctrine.  On  the  other  hand,  it  gives 
the  church  ample  liberty  to  exerise  its  best  judgment 
in  carrying  out  the  divine  commands  and  great  pur- 
poses of  the  gospel,  where  no  methods  are  specified. 
For  instance,  the  command  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
all  nations  is  forever  obligatory  on  the  church.  How 
that  can  best  be  carried  out,  by  v/hat  methods  of 
organization  and  co-operation  in  different  ages  of  the 
world  and  under  different  conditions,  is  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  best  judgment  of  the  church,  only  no 
method  must  be  adopted  that  antagonizes  any  plain 
teaching  of  the  gospel.  It,  therefore,  secures  loy- 
alty to  the  Word  of  God,  and  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  secures  that  liberty  which 
we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  which  must  be  main- 
tained if  the  church  is  to  accomplish  its  mission  in 
the  world. 

This  was  the  germ  truth  from  which  sprang  the 
Reformation  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  which 
Thomas  Campbell  was  the  prime  mover.  A  fuller 
elaboration  of  this  principle  will  be  seen  in  his  Dec- 
laration and  Address,  to  which  attention  will  next  be 
called. 


—41— 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Some  Guiding  Principles. 


*'We  are  persuaded  that  it  is  high  time 
for  us  not  only  to  think,  but  also  to  act 
for  ourselves;  to  see  with  our  own  €yes, 
and  to  take  all  our  measures  directly  from 
the  Divine  standard;  to  this  alone  we  feel 
ourselves  divinely  bound  to  be  conformed, 
as  by  this  alone  we  must  be  judged.  We 
are  also  persuaded  that  as  no  man  can  be 
judged  for  his  brother,  so  no  man  can  judge 
his  brother,  but  that  every  man  must  be 
allowed  to  judge  for  himself,  as  every  man 
must  bear  his  own  judgment,  must  give 
an  account  of  himself  to  God.  We  are  also 
of  the  opinion  that  as  the  Divine  word  is 
equally  binding  upon  all,  so  all  lie  under 
an  equal  obligation  to  be  bound  by  it  and 
it  alone;  and  not  by  any  human  interpre- 
tation of  it,  and  that  therefore  no  man  has 
a  right  to  judge  his  brother,  except  in  so 
far  as  he  manifestly  violates  the  spirit  of 
the  law.  .  .  .  Our  desire,  therefore,  for 
ourselves  and  our  brethren  would  be  that, 
rejecting  human  opinions  and  the  inven- 
tions of  men  as  of  any  authority,  or  as 
having  any  place  in  the  Church  of  God, 
we  might  forever  cease  from  further  con- 
tentions about  such  things,  returning  to 
and  holding  fast  by  the  original  standard, 
taking  the  Divine  word  alone  for  our  rule, 
the  Holy  Spirit  for  our  Teacher  and  Guide, 
to  lead  us  all  into  all  truth,  and  Christ 
alone  as  exhibited  in  the  word,  for  our 
salvation  that,  by  so  doing,  we  may  be  at 
peace  among  ourselves,  follow  peace  with 
all  men  and  holiness,  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  God." — Thomas  Campbell. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Some  Guiding  Principles. 


One  of  the  first  steps  in  a  logical  mind  in  begin- 
ning a  work  of  religious  reformation,  when  the  need 
of  it  is  clearly  perceived  and  the  purpose  to  undertake 
it  is  definitely  formed,  is  to  enunciate  the  fundamen- 
tal or  guiding  principles  by  which  the  reformation  is 
to  be  effected.  Thomas  Campbell  recognized  the 
need  of  such  a  statement  of  principles,  and  also  of 
some  organized  effort  to  give  them  practical  effect. 
Accordingly  *'at  a  meeting  held  in  Buffalo,  August 
17,  1809,  consisting  of  persons  of  different  religious 
denominations,  most  of  them  in  an  unsettled  state  as 
to  a  fixed  gospel  ministry,  it  was  unanimously  agreed, 
upon  the  considerations,  and  for  the  purpose  here- 
after declared,  to  form  themselves  into  a  religious  as- 
sociation .  .  .  which  they  accordingly  did,  and  ap- 
pointed twenty-one  of  their  number  to  meet  and  con- 
fer together,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Elder 
Thomas  Campbell,  minister  of  the  gospel,  to  deter- 
mine upon  the  proper  means  to  carry  into  effect  the 
important  ends  of  their  Association/'* 

*Life  of  Thomas  Campbell,  page  25. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

The  name  of  this  Association  was  the  Christian 
Association  of  Washington,  Pa.  It  disclaimed  any 
purpose  of  considering  itself  a  church,  or  its  state- 
ment of  principles  as  a  creed.  It  was  a  voluntary 
association  of  Christian  people  of  various  denomina- 
tions, who  believed  that  a  religious  reformation  was 
needed  and  were  willing  to  work  together  for  that 
end.  At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  this  Association, 
September  7,  1809,  a  Declaration  and  Address  was 
presented  by  Thomas  Campbell,  setting  forth  some  of 
the  principles  which  should  guide  them  in  their  ef- 
forts to  bring  the  church  into  closer  conformity  to 
scriptural  teaching.  This  address  was  approved  and 
ordered  to  be  printed  on  that  date.  This,  therefore, 
is  regarded  as  the  birthday  of  the  current  Reforma- 
tion. The  address  is  directed  to  the  entire  religious 
world,  and  is  conceived  and  expressed  in  the  spirit  of 
the  deepest  Christian  courtesy  and  fraternity. 
"Dearly  beloved  brethren,"  it  goes  on  so  say,  ''why 
should  we  deem  it  a  thing  incredible  that  the  Church 
of  Christ,  in  this  highly  favored  country,  should  re- 
sume that  original  unity,  peace  and  purity  which 
belong  to  its  constitution,  and  constitute  its  glory? 
Or,  is  there  anything  that  can  be  justly  deemed 
necessary  for  this  desirable  purpose  but  to  conform  to 
the  model  and  adopt  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
Church,  expressly  exhibited  in  the  New  Testament? 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


Whatever  alterations  this  might  produce  in  any  or  in 
all  of  the  churches,  should,  we  think,  neither  be 
deemed  inadmissible  nor  ineligible.  Surely  such 
alteration  would  be  every  way  for  the  better,  and  not 
for  the  worse,  unless  we  should  suppose  the  divinely 
inspired  rule  to  be  faulty  or  defective.'' 

CONFORMITY  TO  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Note  the  implied  confidence  which  this  reformer 
expressed  in  the  sincerity  and  loyalty  of  the  various 
Protestant  bodies  of  Christendom,  in  his  supposition 
that  they  would  be  willing  to  make  such  alterations 
in  their  teaching  and  practice  as  would  bring  them 
into  perfect  conformity  with  the  New  Testament 
standard.  Will  Thomas  Campbell  himself  be  able  to 
conform  to  this  rule,  and  to  surrender  opinions  and 
practices  which  he  then  held  in  order  to  consistently 
carry  out  this  principle?  It  is  to  his  everlasting  honor 
that,  although  this  principle  demanded  the  surrender 
of  former  cherished  convictions  and  practices,  he  never 
shrank  from  making  the  sacrifice  in  the  interest  of 
truth  and  unity.  So  important  are  the  principles 
laid  down  in  this  address  to  any  correct  understand- 
ing of  the  religious  movement  which  Thomas  Camp- 
bell inaugurated,  and  of  the  motives  which  prompted 
him  and  others  in  beginning  the  movement,  that  we 
embody  herein  the  thirteen  propositions  which  he 
begged  his  brethren  of  the  churches  to  understand 

—47-- 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


were  not  intended  *'as  an  overture  toward  a  new 
creed  or  standard  for  the  Church  or  as  in  any  wise  de- 
signed to  be  made  a  term  of  communion;'*  on  the  con- 
trary, they  were  * 'merely  designed  for  opening  up 
the  way,  that  we  may  come  fairly  and  firmly  to 
original  ground  upon  clear  and  certain  premises,  and 
take  up  things  just  as  the  apostles  left  them;  that 
thus  disentangled  from  the  accruing  embarrassments 
of  intervening  ages,  we  may  stand  with  evidence 
upon  the  same  ground  on  which  the  church  stood  at 
the  beginning."  We  bespeak  for  these  principles  a 
careful  study  on  the  part  of  all  who  would  under- 
stand the  current  Reformation. 

Pregnant  Propositions. 

1.  "That  the  church  of  Christ  upon  earth  is  essentially,  in- 
tentionally and  constitutionally  one,  consisting  of  all  those  in 
every  place  that  profess  their  faith  in  Christ  and  obedience  to 
him  in  all  things  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  that  manifest  the 
same  by  their  temper  and  conduct;  and  of  none  else,  as  none  else 
can  be  truly  and  properly  called  Christians. 

2.  "That,  although  the  Church  of  Christ  must  necessarily 
exist  in  particular  and  distinct  societies,  locally  separate  one 
from  another,  yet  there  ought  to  be  no  schisms,  no  uncharitable 
divisions  among  them.  They  ought  to  receive  each  other  as 
Jesus  Christ  hath  also  received  them,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  for 
this  purpose  they  ought  all  to  walk  by  the  same  rule;  to  mind 
and  speak  the  same  things,  and  to  be  |)erfectly  [joined  together 
in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same  judgment. 

3.  "That,  in  order  to  do  this,  nothing  ought  to  be  inculcated 
upon  Christians  as  articles  of  faith,  nor  required  of  them  as  terms 
of  communion,  but  what  is  expressly  taught  and  enjoined  upon 

—48— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


them  ill  the  Word  of  God.  Nor  ought  anything  to  be  admitted 
as  of  Divine  obligation  in  their  church  constitution  and  manage- 
ment but  what  is  expressly  enjoined  by  the  authority  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  his  apostles  upon  the  New  Testament  church, 
either  in  express  terms  or  by  an  approved  precedent. 

4.  "That  although  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments are  inseparably  connected,  making  together  but  one  per- 
fect and  entire  revelation  of  the  Divine  will,  for  the  edification 
and  salvation  of  the  church,  and,  therefore,  in  that  respect  can 
not  be  separated;  yet  as  to  what  directly  and  properly  belongs  to 
their  immediate  object,  the  New  Testament  is  as  perfect  a  consti- 
tution for  the  worship,  discipline  and  government  of  the  New 
Testament  church  and  as  perfect  a  rule  for  the  particular  duties 
of  its  members,  as  the  Old  Testament  was  for  the  worship,  disci- 
pline and  government  of  the  Old  Testament  church  and  the  par- 
ticular duties  of  its  members. 

5.  "That  with  respect  to  commands  and  ordinances  of  our 
I/ord  Jesus  Christ,  where  the  Scriptures  are  silent  as  to  the  ex- 
press time  or  manner  of  performance,  if  any  such  there  be,  no 
human  authority  has  power  to  interfere  in  order  to  supply  the 
supposed  deficiency  by  making  laws  for  the  church;  nor  can  any- 
thing more  be  required  of  Christians  in  such  cases  but  only  that  they 
so  observe  these  commands  and  ordinances,  as  will  evidently  an- 
swer  the  declared  and  obvious  end  of  their  institution.  Mucli  less 
has  any  human  authority  power  to  impose  new  commands  or 
ordinances  upon  the  church,  w^iich  our  I/ord  Jesus  Christ  has  not 
enjoined.  Nothing  ought  to  be  received  into  the  faith  or  worship 
of  the  church,  or  be  made  a  term  of  communion  among  Chris- 
tians, that  is  not  as  old  as  the  New  Testament. 

6.  "That  although  inference  and  deductions  from  Scripture 
premises,  when  fairly  inferred,  may  be  truly  called  the  doctrine  of 
God's  holy  word,  yet  are  they  not  formally  binding  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  Christians  farther  than  they  perceive  the  connection 
and  evidently  see  that  they  are  soj  for  their  faith  must  not  stand 
in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  and  veracity  of  God* 
Therefore  no  such  deductions  can  be  made  ter^-s  of  communion, 

(4)  —49— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


but  do  properly  belong  to  the  after  and  progressive  edification  of 
the  church.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  no  deductions  or  inferen- 
tral  truths  ought  to  have  any  place  in  the  church's  confession. 

7.  "That  although  doctrinal  exhibitions  of  the  great  system 
of  Divine  truths,  and  defensive  testimonies  in  opposition  to  pre- 
vailing errors,  be  highly  expedient  and  the  more  full  and  ex- 
plicit they  be  for  those  purposes,  the  better;  yet,  as  thesemust  be, 
in  a  great  measure,  the  effect  of  human  reasoning  and  of  course 
must  contain  many  inferential  truths,  they  ought  not  to  be  made 
terms  of  Christian  communion  unless  we  suppose,  what  is  con- 
trary to  fact,  that  none  have  a  right  to  the  communion  of  the 
church  but  such  as  possess  a  very  clear  and  decisive  judgment,  or 
are  come  to  a  very  high  degree  of  doctrinal  information,  where- 
as, the  Church  from  the  beginning  did,  and  ever  will,  consist  of 
little  children  and  young  men  as  well  as  fathers. 

8.  "That  as  it  is  not  necessary  that  persons  should  have  a 
particular  knowledge  or  distinct  apprehension  of  all  divinely  re- 
vealed truths,  in  order  to  entitle  them  to  a  place  in  the  church; 
neither  should  they,  for  this  purpose,  be  required  to  make  a  pro- 
fession more  extensive  than  their  knowledge;  but  that  on  the  con- 
trary their  having  a  due  measure  of  scriptural  self-knowledge  re- 
specting their  lost  and  perishing  condition  by  nature  and  prac- 
tice, and  of  the  way  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ  accom- 
panied with  profession  of  their  faith  in  and  obedience  to  him  in 
all  things  according  to  his  word  is  all  that  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  qualfy  them  for  admission  into  his  church. 

9.  "That  all  that  are  enabled  through  grace  to  make  such  a 
profession  and  to  manifest  the  reality  of  it  in  their  tempers  and 
conduct  should  consider  each  other  as  the  precious  saints  of  God, 
should  love  each  other  as  brethren,  children  of  the  same  family 
and  father,  temples  of  the  same  Spirit,  members  of  the  same 
body,  subjects  of  the  same  grace,  objects  of  the  same  Divine  love, 
bought  with  the  same  price  and  joint-heirs  of  the  same  inherit- 
ance. Whom  God  has  thus  joined  together  no  man  should  dare 
put  asunder. 

10.  "The  division  among  Christians  is  a  horrid  evil,  fraught 

— 50 — 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


with  many  evils.  It  is  Anti-Christian,  as  it  destroys  the  visible 
unity  of  the  body  of  Christ,  as  if  he  were  divided  against  himself . 
excluding  and  excommunicating  a  part  of  himself.  It  is  anti-scrip- 
tural, as  being  strictly  prohibited  by  his  sovereign  authority,  a 
a  direct  violation  of  his  express  command.  It  is  anti-natural,  as 
it  excites  Christians  to  continue  to  hate  and  oppose  one  another 
who  are  bound  by  the  highest  and  most  endearing  obligations  to 
love  each  other  as  brethren,  even  as  Christ  hath  loved  them.  In 
a  word,  it  is  productive  of  confusion  and  every  evil  work. 

11.  "That  (in  some  instances),  a  partial  neglect  of  the  ex- 
pressly revealed  will  of  God,  and  (in  others)  an  assumed  author, 
ity  for  making  the  approbation  of  human  opinions  and  human 
inventions  a  term  of  communion,  by  introducing  them  into  the 
constitution,  faith,  or  worship  of  the  church,  are  and  have  been 
the  immediate,  obvious,  and  universally  acknowledged  causes  of 
all  the  corruptions  and  divisions  that  ever  have  taken  place  in 
the  church  of  God. 

12.  "That  all  that  is  necessary  to  the  highest  state  of  perfec- 
tion and  purity  of  the  Church  upon  earth  is,  first,  that  none  be 
received  as  members  but  such  as,  having  that  due  measure  of 
scriptural  self-knowledge  described  above,  do  profess  their  faith 
in  Christ  and  obedience  to  him  in  all  things,  according  to  the 
Scriptures;  nor,  secondly,  that  any  be  retained  in  her  communion 
longer  than  they  continue  to  manifest  the  reality  of  their  pro- 
fession by  their  temper  and  conduct.  Thirdly,  that  her  ministers, 
duly  and  scripturally  qualified,  inculcate  none  other  things  than 
those  very  articles  of  faith  and  holiness  expressly  revealed  and 
taught  in  the  word  of  God.  Lastly,  that  in  all  their  adminis- 
trations they  keep  close  by  the  observance  of  all  EHvine  ordinan- 
ces, after  the  example  of  the  primitive  church,  exhibited  in  the 
New  Testament,  without  any  additions  whatsoever  of  human 
opinions  or  inventions  of  men. 

13.  "Lastly.  That  if  any  circumstantials  indispensably  nec- 
essary to  the  observance  of  Divine  ordinances  be  not  found  upon 
the  page  of  express  revelation,  such,  and  such  only,  as  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  this  purpose,  should  be  adopted  under  the 

—51— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


title  of  human  expedients,  without  any  pretense  to  a  more  sacred 
origin,  so  that  any  subsequent  alteration  or  difference  in  the 
observance  of  these  things  might  produce  no  contention  or  divi- 
sion in  the  church." 

It  is  further  explained  in  this  address  that  there 
is  no  desire  to  seek  union  by  the  sacrifice  of  truth. 

'Union  in  Truth'  is  our  motto."  It  was  not  sup- 
posed for  a  moment,  however,  that  all  men  could  be 
united  in  their  opinions.  '*But  that  all  the  mem- 
bers should  have  the  same  identical  views  of  all 
divinely-revealed  truths,  or  that  there  should  be  no 
difference  of  opinion  among  them,  appears  to  us 
morally  impossible,  all  things  considered.  Nor  can 
we  conceive  what  desirable  purpose  such  a  unity  of 
sentiment  would  serve,  except  to  render  useless  some 
of  those  gracious,  self-denying,  and  compassionate 
precepts  of  mutual  sympathy  and  forbearance  which 
the  Word  of  God  enjoins  upon  His  people."  Not 
upon  opinions,  then,  but  upon  the  great  fundamen- 
tal truths  and  facts  of  the  gospel  does  this  far-seeing 
reformer  urge  the  unity  of  the  people  of  God. 


—52— 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  Chief  Actor. 


It  often  happens  that  the  man  who  dis- 
covers or  announces  first  a  new  idea  or 
principle  is  not  the  one  best  adapted  to 
carry  that  idea  or  principle  into  practical 
effect.  It  was  so  in  the  case  of  the  current 
reformation.  While  Thomas  Campbell  was 
admirably  fitted  to  see  and  announce  the 
great  elementary  principles  underlying  the 
reformation,  there  was  needed  for  the 
times  a  man  of  a  wider  intellectual  range, 
more  mental  independence,  and  less  disin- 
clination to  resort  to  conflict  in  defense  of 
these  principles,  and  especially  in  their 
faithful  application  to  their  own  former 
convictions  and  practices.  His  son,  Alex- 
ander, seemed  to  be  endowed,  trained  and 
equipped  for  such  a  work,  and  history  tells 
how  fearlessly  and  faithfully  he  performed 
his  providential  task.  Happy  the  man  who 
could  submit  such  a  platform  of  religious 
reform  to  the  world  and  train  a  son  who 
would  be  capable  of  applying  it  to  the  liv- 
ing questions  of  the  age, 


54 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  Chief  Actor. 

While  Thomas  Campbell  was  a  prime  mover  in 
the  Reformation  of  the  nineteenth  century,  his  son, 
Alexander  Campbell,  became  the  chief  actor  and 
the  leading  spirit.  There  is  in  this  order  of  things 
evidence  of  that  divine  and  over-ruling  Providence 
which  selects  different  men  for  different  tasks  in 
carrying  forward  the  purposes  of  God  in  the  world. 
No  man  living  was  better  fitted  by  natural  tempera- 
ment, by  training,  by  his  religious  environment, 
first  in  the  Old  World,  and  then  in  the  New,  by  his 
humility  of  spirit,  by  his  reverence  for  the  Word  of 
God,  and  his  ardent  desire  for  the  peace  and  unity 
of  the  church,  than  was  Thomas  Campbell  to  be  the 
recipient  of  God's  message  for  that  day.  To  him  it 
was  given  to  see  the  evils  of  division;  to  hear  God's 
call,  in  the  condition  and  events  of  the  times  and  in 
his  Word,  for  the  unity  of  the  church,  and  to  per- 
ceive and  announce  the  great  fundamental  principles 
by  which  this  unity  might  be  realized.  But  as  it 
was  not  given  to  David  to  build  the  temple  of  God, 
on  which  he  had  set  his  heart,  but  only  to  prepare 

--55— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


for  it,  while  the  great  work  itself  was  left  to  his  son 
Solomon,  so  while  the  vision  of  a  united  church  was 
given  to  Thomas  Campbell,  and  the  guiding  princi- 
ples by  which  this  consummation  was  to  be  realized, 
it  was  reser\^ed  for  his  son,  Alexander  Campbell,  to 
apply  these  principles  to  the  actual  work  of  religious 
reformation.  For  this  latter  work  Alexander  Camp- 
bell possessed  qualifications  superior  to  those  of  his 
father,  or  to  any  other  man  of  his  age  and  genera- 
tion. 

Alexander  Campbell  was  born  in  the  County  of 
Antrim,  Ireland,  September  12,  1788.  On  his 
father's  side,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  of  the  purest 
Scottish  blood,  being  related  to  Thomas  Campbell, 
the  poet,  and  to  the  Campbells  of  Argyle,  Scotland, 
of  which  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  Sir  Archibald  Camp- 
bell, was  the  head.  From  his  mother's  side  he 
received  the  blood  of  the  French  Huguenots,  who 
were  refugees  in  Scotland  from  religious  persecution. 
From  his  earliest  youth  Alexander  received  the  most 
careful  religious  and  literar\^  training.  He  formed 
the  habit,  early  in  life,  of  memorizing  select  extracts 
from  the  best  authors,  and  especially  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, large  portions  of  which  he  could  recite  from 
memory.    He  pays  this  tribute  to  his  mother: 

She  made  a  nearer  approximation  to  the  acknowledged  beau 
ideal  of  a  Christian  mother  than  any  one  of  her  sex  with 
whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  forming  a  special  acquaintance. 
I  can  but  gratefully  say  that  to  my  mother,  as  well  as  to  my 

—56— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


father,  I  am  indebted  for  having  memorized  in  early  life  almost 
all  the  writings  of  King  Solomon — his  Proverbs,  his  Ecclesiastes 
and  many  of  the  Psalms  of  his  father  David.  They  have  not 
only  been  written  on  the  tablet  of  my  memory,  but  incorporated 
with  my  modes  of  thinking  and  speaking. 

With  such  religious  training,  it  is  not  strange 
that  early  in  life  he  became  deeply  concerned  about 
his  personal  salvation.  This  is  his  own  record  of 
his  religious  experience: 

From  the  time  that  I  could  read  the  Scriptures,  I  became 
convinced  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God.  I  was  also  fully  per- 
suaded that  I  was  a  sinner,  and  must  obtain  pardon  through  the 
merits  of  Christ,  or  be  lost  forever.  This  caused  me  great  dis- 
tress of  soul,  and  I  had  much  exercise  of  mind  under  the  awak- 
enings of  a  guilty  conscience.  Finally,  after  much  strugglings, 
I  was  enabled  to  put  my  trust  in  the  Saviour,  and  to  feel  my  reli- 
ance on  him  as  the  only  Saviour  of  sinners.  From  the  moment 
I  was  able  to  feel  this  reliance  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I 
obtained  and  enjoyed  peace  of  mind.  It  never  entered  my  head 
to  investigate  the  subject  of  baptism  or  the  doctrines  of  the 
creed.* 

Soon  after  this  he  became  a  member  of  his  father's 
church  at  Ahorey,  and  began  to  give  special  atten- 
tion to  theological  studies  and  ecclesiastical  history. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  became  an  assistant  of 
his  father  in  an  academy,  so  proficient  had  he 
become  in  his  studies.  When  Alexander  was  nine- 
tee  n  years  of  age  his  father,  on  the  advice  of  his 
physician,  which  was  strongly  reinforced  by  the  per- 

*Memoir8,  Page  48. 

—57— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


suasion  of  his  son,  determined  on  a  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic,   to  seek  a  home  for  himself  and  his 
family  in  the  New  World.   Already  the  son  had  made 
up  his  mind  that  he  would  emigrate  to  America  when 
he  became  of  age,  and  naturally  he  was  favorable 
to  the  idea  of  his  father  going  thither.  Accordingly, 
leaving   his  wife  and    the  other  younger  members 
of  the  family  in  charge  of  Alexander,  Thomas  Camp- 
bell set  sail  on  April  8,  1807,  it  being  agreed  that 
the  family  was  to  follow  if  the  father  was  pleased 
with  the  country.    Early  in  the  following  year  Al- 
exander received  a  letter  from  his  father,  urging 
him  to  make  all  haste  to  bring  the  family  to  him, 
where  he  was  located  in  Washington,  Pa.    It  was 
not,  however,  until  the  first  of  October  that  the  ship 
*'Hibernia"  actually  hoisted  sail  and  took  its  depar- 
ture for  its  long  voyage.    It  v/as  then  that  one  of  those 
strange  events  happened  which  often  have  so  much 
to  do  in  molding  one's  future  life  and  destiny.  On 
the  night  of  October  7  the  vessel  was  wrecked  off 
the  coast  of   Scotland,  the  passengers  being  saved 
after  great  peril,  but  with  the  loss  of  nearly  all  their 
possessions.    Alexander,  by  a  strange  premonition 
in  a  dream,  had  seen  the  disaster  of  the  ship  early 
in  the  evening,  and  had  warned  the  family  to  be 
ready  for  any  emergency.     Himself    refusing  to 
undress  that  night,  he  w^as  thereby  the  better  pre- 
pared to  assist  the  family  when  the  catastrophe 

—58— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


occurred.  The  following  extract  from  Dr.  Richard- 
son's Memoirs  will  be  of  interest: 

It  was  now  that  Alexander,  having  done  all  that  was  possible 
for  the  present  safety  of  his  charge,  abandoned  himself  to  reflec- 
tion as  he  sat  on  the  stump  of  a  broken  mast,  and  in  the  near 
prospect  of  death,  felt,  as  never  before,  the  vanity  of  the  aims 
and  ambitions  of  human  life.  The  world  now  seemed  to  him  a 
worthless  void,  and  all  its  attractions  a  vain,  delusive  show. 
Kingdoms,  thrones  and  scepters  could  not,  he  thought,  if 
offered,  excite  one  wish  for  their  possession.  The  true  objects 
of  human  desire  and  the  true  purposes  of  man's  creation  now 
appeared  to  him  in  all  their  excellence  and  glory.  He  thought 
of  his  father's  noble  life,  devoted  to  God  and  to  the  salvation 
of  his  fellow-beings,  and  felt  that  such  a  calling,  consecrated  to 
the  elevation  and  everlasting  happiness  of  mankind,  was 
indeed,  the  highest  and  most  worthy  sphere  of  action  in  which 
any  human  being  could  engage.  It  was  then,  in  that  solemn 
hour,  that  he  gave  himself  up  wholly  to  God,  and  resolved  that, 
if  saved  from  the  present  peril,  he  would  certainly  spend  his 
entire  life  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  It  was  at  this  moment 
that  he  for  the  first  time  fully  decided  upon  adopting  the  min- 
istry as  his  profession.* 

How  often  does  it  turn  out  that  the  frustration  of 
our  plans  and  purposes  is  God's  method  of  better  fit- 
ting us  for  our  life-work.  This  shipwreck  was  a  sad 
disappointment  to  young  Campbell  and  the  family, 
but  it  is  not  difficult  to  see,  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
events,  how  important  an  influence  it  exerted  on  the 
life  of  the  future  reformer.  The  trip  to  America 
that  year  was  abandoned,  in  view  of  the  lateness  of 
the   season,  and    the    family   went    to  Glasgow, 

♦Memoirs,  pp.  101, 102. 

—59— 


The  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


Scotland,  where  Alexander  desired  to  pursue 
some  studies  in  the  university  where  his  father 
had  been  educated.  He  entered  his  classes  on  the 
eighth  of  November,  and  being  of  an  eminently 
social  disposition,  formed  an  extensive  acquaintance 
among  the  numerous  students  who  were  there  from 
Ireland  and  Scotland.  He  found  time  to  do  a  great 
deal  of  reading  in  connection  with  his  studies. 
Alexander  CampbelPs  biographer  says  of  his  stay  in 
Glasgow  that  ''while  it  left  his  main  purpose  unal- 
tered, it  was  destined  to  work  an  entire  revolution  in 
his  views  and  feelings  in  respect  to  the  existing 
denominations,  and  to  disengage  his  sympathies 
entirely  from  the  Seceder  denomination  and  every 
other  form  of  Presbyterianism." 

This  change  seems  to  have  been  wrought  chiefly 
through  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  Greville 
Ewing,  who  took  a  special  interest  in  Alexander, 
and  in  the  family.  Through  him  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  work  of  the  Haldane  brothers,  of 
distinguished  Scottish  ancestry,  whose  wealth  and 
religious  zeal,  together  with  certain  ideas  of  relig- 
ious reform  which  they  held,  made  them  conspicuous 
characters  in  their  time.  Some  of  their  views,  it 
appears,  had  deeply  influenced  the  mind  of  Mr. 
Campbell.  The  benefit  derived  by  the  young 
reformer  from  his  studies  in  the  university  in  Greek, 
logic  and  belles  lettres,  and  in  experimental  philos- 


The:  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


ophy,  together  with  the  new  religious  ideas  he  had 
gained  from  contact  with  other  minds,  in  the  work 
of  religious  reform,  was  the  added  preparation  which 
was  to  better  fit  him  for  the  work  which  awaited 
him  in  the  New  World.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact, 
and  one,  too,  which  indicates  a  guiding  providence, 
that  while  the  son  was  thus  being  disengaged  from 
his  attachment  to  the  Seceder  Church  in  the  Old 
World,  the  father  was  undergoing  the  same  experi- 
ence, by  a  somewhat  different  process,  in  the  New 
world.  Hence,  it  so  happened  that  when  Alexander 
Campbell,  with  the  other  members  of  the  family, 
joined  the  father  in  the  latter  part  of  September, 
1809,  and  the  latter  had  related  the  occurrences 
which  had  practically  severed  his  connection  with 
the  Seceder  Church,  he  found  his  son  in  perfect 
sympathy  with  his  position. 


—61— 


CHAPTER  VI. 
APPI.ICATION  OF  Principles. 


Wherefore,  O  King  Agrippa,  I  was  not 
disobedient  unto  tlie  heavenly  vision:  but 
declared  both  to  them  of  Damascus  first 
and  at  Jerusalem,  and  throughout  all  the 
country  of  Judsa,  and  also  to  the  Gentiles, 
that  they  should  repent  and  turn  to  God, 
doing  works  worthy  of  repentance. ' ' — '■ 
Acts  26:19,  20. 

▼   ▼  ▼ 

As  it  was  in  the  case  of  Paul,  so  it  has 
been  in,  the  case  of  every  man  who  has 
risen  to  greatness  and  to  power  in  the 
kingdom  of  God.  He  must  follow  the  light 
as  God  gives  him  to  see  the  light,  or  for- 
feit his  moral  standing  with  God  and  all 
hope  of  future  progress  in  the  kingdom  of 
truth.  Alexander  Campbell  was  not  diso- 
bedient to  the  vision  of  truth  and  duty 
as  it  came  to  him,  and  because  he  preferred 
persecution  and  unpopularity  to  disobedi- 
ence, God  gave  him  a  place  of  power  among 
men  which  shnll  increase  with  the  passing 
years. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Application  of  Principles. 

The  first  task  which  confronted  Alexander  Camp- 
bell on  his  arrival  at  Washington,  Pa.,  was  the  ex- 
amination of  the  proof  sheets  of  the  Declaration  and 
Address  which  his  father  had  previously  prepared, 
and  which  had  been  ordered  to  be  printed  and  circu- 
lated. As  already  intimated,  his  experience  in  the 
Old  World  and  his  associations  at  Glasgow  University 
had  served  to  dissatisfy  him  with  the  existing  order 
of  things  in  the  religious  world,  and  to  put  him  in  an 
attitude  for  independent  thought  and  action.  Read- 
ing carefully  the  now  historic  document,  he  was 
greatly  impressed  with  the  scriptural  character  and 
far-reaching  nature  of  the  principles  set  forth  in  this 
new  declaration  of  independence.  He  at  once  de- 
clared his  hearty  approval  of  the  propositions  con- 
tained therein,  but  his  mind  was  so  constituted  that 
he  could  not  stop  with  a  mere  approval  of  the  general 
principles  of  religious  reform.  He  began  at  once  to 
inquire  what  were  the  implications  of  these  principles 
and  what  effect  their  application  would  have  on  ex- 

(5)  —65— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


isting  beliefs  and  practices,  such  as  he  and  his  father 
and  the  church  with  which  they  had  been  identified 
held  as  having  divine  sanction. 

One  of  the  first  of  these  practices  to  pass  under 
review,  in  the  light  of  the  proposition  that  "nothing 
should  be  required  as  a  matter  of  faith  or  duty  for 
which  a  'Thus  saith  the  Lord'  could  not  be  produced 
either  in  expressed  terms  or  by  approved  precedent," 
was  infant  baptism.  A  Presbyterian  minister  had 
called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  principle  was 
not  sound,  because  "if  followed  out  you  must  become 
a  Baptist."  This  startled  the  young  reformer,  and 
he  at  once  began  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject, securing  all  the  works  extant  that  he  could 
procure,  in  favor  of  infant  baptism,  and  subjecting 
their  arguments  to  the  test  of  New  Testament  teach- 
ing. He  made  this  honest  investigation  in  the 
earnest  hope  of  finding  justification  for  the  practice. 
The  arguments  in  favor  of  the  practice  seemed  to  him 
to  be  assumptions  and  fallacious  reasonings.  He 
therefore  threw  them  aside,  and  restorted  to  his  Greek 
New  Testament,  which  afforded  him  no  relief. 
Thomas  Campbell  admitted  the  absence  of  scriptural 
raithority  for  the  practice,  but  argued  that  he  could 
"see  no  propriety,  even  if  the  scriptural  evidence  for 
infant  baptism  be  found  deficient,  in  their  unchurch- 
ing or  paganizing  themselves,  or  in  putting  off  Christ 
merely  for  the  sake  of  making  a  new  profession,  thus 

—66— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


going  out  of  the  church  merely  for  the  sake  of  com- 
ing in  again!" 

In  deference  to  his  father's  views  Alexander  dis- 
missed the  subject  for  the  time,  but  after  his  marriage 
and  the  birth  of  their  first  child,  he  was  led  to 
take  up  once  more,  de  novo^  the  whole  subject  of 
baptism  in  the  light  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures 
and  the  principles  of  religious  reform  which  his  fath- 
er had  enunciated  and  he  had  approved.  Not  to  fol- 
low here  the  process  of  his  reasoning,  the  conclusion 
reached  was,  that  only  believers  in  Christ  were  quali- 
fied for  Christian  baptism,  and  that  baptism  in  New 
Testament  usage,  as  well  as  in  the  very  meaning  of 
the  term,  was  immersion,  involving  burial  in  and 
resurrection  from  the  water,  symbolizing  Christ's 
burial  and  resurrection  from  the  dead,  as  well  as  the 
believer's  own  death  to  sin  and  resurrection  to  new- 
ness of  life.  Having  reached  this  conviction  he  was 
not  the  kind  of  man  to  remain  long  without  bringing 
his  obedience  into  harmony  with  his  convictions  of 
truth.  He  therefore  arranged  with  a  Baptist  minis- 
ter living  near  Washington  to  baptize  him  on  a  cer- 
tain date,  stipulating  that  he  was  to  be  required  only 
to  confess  his  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
prerequisite  to  baptism.  Thomas  Campbell  notified 
his  son,  as  they  were  starting  to  the  place  appointed, 
that  he  and  his  wife  had  decided  also  to  be  immersed. 
A  few  others  had  reached  the  same  decision,  so  that 

—67— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


there  were  seven  in  all  who,  on  that  day,  submitted 
to  New  Testament  baptism,  as  they  understood  it, 
including  Alexander  Campbell  and  his  wife,  his  fath- 
er and  mother  and  his  sister.* 

Only  those  who  have  passed  through  similar  ex- 
periences can  realize  what  it  must  have  cost  these  lead- 
ers, after  years  of  religious  service  in  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  in  teaching  others,  to  take  such  a  step  as 
this.  Lying  back  behind  this  act  were  weeks  and 
months  of  earnest  mental  struggle  to  know  the  truth, 
and  to  follow  it  whithersoever  it  would  lead.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  imagine  how  loth  both  Thomas  Campbell 
and  his  son  Alexander  were  to  put  up  what  might 
seem  a  barrier  to  their  cherished  object,  Christian 
union.  No  doubt  it  was  the  fear  of  putting  a  hin- 
drance in  the  way  of  this  blessed  consummation  that 
held  them  back,  for  a  time,  from  taking  the  step 
which  their  own  consciences  seemed  to  demand. 
They  came  to  see,  however,  that  if  immersion  was 
the  New  Testament  ordinance  which  Christ  had  com- 
manded, and  which  the  apostles  had  practiced,  they 
themselves  were  not  erecting  any  human  barrier  to 
Christian  union.  In  addition  to  that  they  had  come 
to  see  that  it  was  not  a  mere  question  as  to  the  form 

*On  a  May  daj'  of  the  present  year  (1909)  the  author  risited  the  spot  on  Buf- 
falo Creek,  about  a  mile  above  its  junction  with  Brush  Run,  where  this  historic 
event  occurred.  It  was  probably  the  first  instauce  in  modern  times  of  baptism 
administered  upon  the  simple  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God.   It  was  the  dawning  of  a  new  era  of  religious  freedom. 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  baptism,  but  that  their  uew  view  of  the  ordinance, 
including  its  design  and  proper  subjects,  affected 
their  whole  conception  of  Christianity  and  of  the 
church.  Accordingly,  when  it  became  evident  that 
their  Christian  Association  must  take  the  form  and  ful- 
fill the  functions  of  a  church,  and  the  congregation  at 
Brush  Run  was  formed,  only  those  were  finally  re- 
ceived into  its  membership  who  were  immersed  be- 
lievers. This  has  been  the  rule  in  all  the  churches 
subsequently  established. 

Was  this  step  in  harmony  with  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  Declaration  and  iVddress  and  with  the 
chief  purpose  which  these  reformers  had  in  view — the 
unity  of  Christians?  This  question  need  not  be  dis- 
cussed here  as  to  those  who  hold  that  New  Testament 
baptism  does  not  involve  immersion  and  is  not  limit- 
ed to  believers  only.  There  are  those,  however, 
who,  admitting  that  this  is  the  teaching  of  Christ  and 
his  apostles,  yet  claim  that  to  make  this  teaching  a 
standard  of  church  membership  is  to  violate  the  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  the  Declaration  and  Address,  and 
to  put  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Christian  union. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  any  extended  discussion  of 
this  question.  We  may  be  sure  that  these  men,  who 
were  the  chosen  instruments  of  reform,  gave  careful 
and  prayerful  thought  to  this  question.  All  their  pre- 
dilections pointed  in  the  direction  of  making  the 

question  as  to  the  form  of  baptism  optional  in  the 

—69— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


church.  Success  in  their  cherished  object,  from  all 
human  reasoning  at  least,  pointed  in  the  same  di- 
rection. And  yet  in  spite  of  these  facts  they  adopt- 
ed the  principle  of  restoring  the  simple  New  Testa- 
ment faith  and  practice  as  the  surest  and  only  safe 
way  of  restoring  the  ancient  unity  of  the  church. 

It  never  occurred  to  them  for  a  moment  that  only 
those  who  would  accept  this  progam  were  Christians, 
and  that  all  others  were  non-Christians,  because  they 
knew  by  experience  the  mental  struggles  through 
which  one  must  pass  in  a  radical  change  of  his  reli- 
gious views.  They  had  a  profound  respect  for  the 
Christian  character  of  many  who  differed  from  them. 
They  felt,  however,  that  if  it  were  their  mission  to 
promote  Christian  union  by  a  complete  return  to  New 
Testament  faith  and  practice,  and  to  illustrate  in 
their  church  life  the  very  principles  which  they  were 
to  teach,  they  had  no  authority  or  sanction  for  modi- 
fying any  divine  requirement.  They  recognized  the 
fact  that  God  has  different  kinds  of  work  for  various 
kinds  of  workers,  and  that  he  would  know  how  to 
use,  to  his  glory  and  to  the  good  of  men»  churches 
and  organizations  which  would  not  enter  into  this 
work  of  restoring  New  Testament  teaching,  and  in 
bringing  to  pass  the  realization  of  Christ's  prayer 
for  unity. 

If  the  success  which  God  gives  to  those  who  are 
seeking  faithfully  to  carry  out  his  purpose  in  the 

—70— 


The  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


world  may  be  cited  as  proof,  are  we  not  justified,  by 
the  testimony  of  history,  in  concluding  that  these 
pioneers  were  led  by  a  wisdom  more  than  human  in 
adopting  the  course  which  they  themselves  pursued 
and  commended  to  those  who  were  to  come  after 
them? 


—71— 


CHAPTER  VII. 
A  Change  of  Leaders. 


Alexander  Campbell  is  unquestionably 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of  our 
time.  Putting  wholly  out  of  view  his  ten- 
ets, with  which  we  have  nothing  to  do,  he 
claims  by  his  intrinsic  qualities,  as  mani- 
fested in  his  achievements,  a  place  among 
the  foremost  spirits  of  the  age.  His  energy, 
self-relian(Ce  and  self -fidelity,  if  we  may  use 
the  expression,  are  of  the  stamp  that  be- 
longs only  to  the  world's  first  leaders  in 
thought  or  action.  His  personal  excellence 
is  certainly  without  a  stain  or  a  shadow. 
His  intellect,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say, 
is  among  the  clearest,  richest  and  profound- 
est  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  Indeed,  it 
seems  to  us,  that  in  the  faculty  of  abstract 
thinking — in,  so  to  say,  the  sphere  of  pure 
thought — he  has  few,  if  any  living  rivals. 
Every  cultivated  person  of  the  slighest 
metaphysical  turn  who  has  heard  Alexander 
Campbell  in  the  pulpit,  or  in  the  social  cir- 
cle, must  have  been  especially  impressed  by 
the  wonderful  facility  with  which  his  facul- 
ties move  in  the  highest  planes  of  thought. 
Ultimate  facts  stand  forth  as  boldly  in  his 
consciousness  as  sensations  do  in  that  of 
most  other  men.  He  grasps  and  handles  the 
liighest,  sublimest  and  most  comprehensive 
principles  as  if  they  were  the  liveliest  im- 
pressions of  the  senses.  No  poet's  soul  is 
more  crowded  with  imagery  than  is  his 
with  the  ripest  forms  of  thought.  Surely 
the  life  of  a  man  thus  excellent  and  gifted 
is  a  part  of  the  common  treasure  of  so- 
ciety. In  his  essential  character  he  belongs 
to  no  party,  but  to  the  world. — Geo.  D. 
Frentlce,  in  Louisville  Journal, 


—74— 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A  Change  of  Leaders. 

With  the  change  of  views  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism on  the  part  of  these  reformers,  there  came  also, 
in  the  most  natural  way,  without  any  formal  declara- 
tion, and  certainly  without  the  least  friction,  a 
change  in  the  relative  positions  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell and  his  father,  Thomas  Campbell.  It  now  be- 
came evident  to  all,  and  to  none  more  than  to 
Thomas  Campbell,  that  henceforth  the  duty  of  leader- 
ship and  of  the  defense  of  the  principles  they  had 
espoused,  must  devolve  upon  the  younger  of  these 
two  reformers,  who,  both  by  natural  endowment  and 
by  the  superior  energy  and  strength  which  belonged 
to  his  young  manhood,  was  better  fitted  for  this 
position.  The  son  never  ceased  to  pay  due  deference 
to  the  father  and  to  consult  him  in  all  matters  of  in- 
terest to  the  movement;  but  he  recognized  the  fact 
that  Providence  had  laid  on  him  the  responsibility  of 
leadership,  and  he  accepted  it  courageously,  relying 
humbly  upon  God  for  widsom  and  strength,  and 
calling  no  man  master. 

WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN. 

The  world,  even  the  religious  world,  has  yet  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  character,  the  remark- 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


able  ability  and  high  Christian  ideals  of  Alexander 
Campbell.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  submit  just 
here  the  testimony  of  a  few  competent  judges  as  to  the 
quality  of  the  man  who  now  assumes  the  reins  of 
leadership  in  this  Reformation  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. In  1875,  on  commencement  day  of  Bethany 
College,  Judge  Jeremiah  Black,  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
was  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  under 
Buchanan,  unveiled  a  bust  of  Alexander  Campbell, 
and  in  his  speech  on  the  occasion  paid  him  the  fol- 
lowing remarkable  tribute 

According  to  my  apprehension,  his  career  was  most  heroic. 
In  support  of  those  truths  which  divine  revelation  had  taught 
him,  he  encountered  the  opposition  of  the  whole  world,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  flesh  and  the  devil.  Friends  fled  from  his  side 
while  enemies  met  him  in  front  and  hung  upon  his  flank  and 
rear.  The  life  of  a  Christian  man  worthy  of  his  vocation,  is  a 
battle  at  best.  The  similes  with  which  Paul  describes  it  are  con- 
stantly drawn  from  the  struggles  of  the  warrior  and  the  athlete. 
He  of  whom  I  speak  contended  valiantly  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints,  not  only  against  the  natural  allies  of  Satan, 
but  against  errors  which  seemed  to  be  consecrated  by  the  appro- 
bation of  good  men;  creeds,  imbedded  in  prejudice;  falsehood, 
guarded  by  interests  which  the  slightest  disturbance  infuriated. 
It  was  a  war  "against  principalities  and  powers  and  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places." 

The  little  band  of  disciples  that  gathered  around  him  at  first, 
and  whom  the  world  in  derision  called  by  his  name,  were  as  lit- 
erally the  sect  "everywhere  spoken  against"  as  their  predecessors 
in  primitive  times. 

To  effect  a  great  reformation  under  such  circumstances;  to 
convince  large  numbers  of  men  against  their  will;  to  organize  the 

—76— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


believers  into  a  compact  and  powerful  body;  to  conquer  the  re- 
spect of  the  world;  these  are  proofs  of  intellectual  ability  and 
moral  force  with  which  only  a  few  of  the  children  of  men  have 
been  gifted.  To  these  qualities  were  added  an  unfailing  courage, 
a  fortitude  that  nothing  could  shake,  a  chivalrous  sense  of  jus- 
tice to  his  opponents  and  affection  for  his  friends,  second  only  to 
his  love  for  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life.  What 
higher  claims  can  any  man  set  up  to  the  character  of  a  hero? 

When  we  estimate  his  talents  and  virtues  by  the  practical 
results  of  their  exercise,  we  must  remember  that  he  wrought  out 
his  success  solely  by  appeals  to  the  hearts,  reason  and  con- 
sciences of  his  fellow  men.  Others  have  made  as  deep  a  mark 
upon  the  history  of  the  race,  but  nearly  all  of  them  were  backed 
by  political  power,  or  aided  by  unworthy  passions.  It  is  easy  to 
account  for  their  achievements  without  supposing  them  to  possess 
much  strength  of  their  own.  Standing  behind  a  steam  engine, 
even  a  weak  man  may  make  some  progress  in  removing  a  moun- 
tain, but  he  who  scatters  it  abroad  with  his  naked  hands  incon- 
testibly  belongs  to  the  breed  of  the  Titans. 

When  I  speak  thus  of  his  merely  human  dimensions,  I  do 
not  undervalue  the  power  of  the  gospel.  But  the  qualities  of 
mind  and  heart  which  glorify  truth,  make  the  man  illustrious  in 
his  personal  character.  He  was  invincible  by  virtue  of  the  divine 
armor  with  which  he  was  clothed;  still,  it  is  only  just  to  say  that 
he  filled  it  grandly,  wore  it  always,  and  never  sunk  beneath  its 
weight.  The  weapon  that  glittered  in  his  hand  was  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit;  but  without  the  sweep  of  that  long  arm  its  celestial 
temper  would  not  have  been  proved. 

After  crediting  his  coadjutors  with  their  fnll  share  of  the 
common  work,  he  is  still  without  a  rival  to  come  near  him. 
Many  of  them  were  tall  in  their  intellectual  stature,  but,  look- 
ing through  the  host,  it  is  neither  detraction  nor  flattery  to  say 
that— 

"  He  above  the  rest 
In  shape  and  stature  proudly  eminent 
Stood  like  a  tower." 

—77— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


He  was  a  thoroughly  trained  scholar,  a  life-long  student,  with  in- 
dustry to  which  mere  idleness  would  have  been  pain.  He  never 
unbent  from  mental  exertion  except  in  conversation.  He  was 
indeed  a  most  wonderful  talker.  No  one,  I  think,  ever  joined 
him  in  these  social  recreations  without  being  instructed  and  de- 
lighted. HipS  pen  was  extremely  prolific.  His  writings  are  so 
voluminous  that  we  can  not  but  wonder  how  he  found  time  to 
accomplish  the  mere  mechanical  labor. 

As  a  great  preacher  he  will  be  remembered  with  unequal. 
ed  admiration  by  all  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  him  in 
the  prime  of  his  life.  The  interest  which  he  excited  in  a  great 
congregation  can  hardly  be  explained.  From  the  first  sentence 
to  the  close  every  word  was  heard  with  rapt  attention.  It  did  not 
appear  to  be  eloquence.  It  was  not  the  "enticing  words  of  man's 
wisdom;"  the  arts  of  the  orator  seemed  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
grand  simplicity  of  his  character.  It  was  logic,  explanation  and 
argument,  so  clear  that  everybody  followed  it  without  an  effort, 
and  all  felt  that  it  was  raising  them  to  the  level  of  a  superior 
mind.  Prejudice  melted  away  under  the  easy  flow  of  his  elocu_ 
tion.  The  clinching  fact  was  always  in  its  proper  place,  and  the 
fine  poetic  illustration  was  ever  at  hand  to  shed  its  light  on  the 
theme.  But  all  this  does  not  account  for  the  impressiveness  of 
his  speeches,  and  no  analysis  of  them  can  give  any  idea  of 
their  power.* 

The  celebrated  and  gifted  George  D.  Prentice 
said  in  the  L<ouisville  Journal^  after  hearing  Mr. 
Campbell  preach: 

Alexander  Campbell  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary men  of  our  time.  Putting  wholly  out  of  view  his  tenets, 
with  which  we  have  nothing  to  do,  he  claims  by  his  intrinsic 
qualities,  as  manifested  in  his  achievements,  a  p'.ace  among  the 
foremost  spirits  of  the  age.  His  energy,  self-reliance  and  self- 
fidelity,  if  we  may  use  the  expression,  are  of  the  stamp  that 
belongs  only  to  the  world's  first  leaders  in  thought  or  action, 

*I,ife  of  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  pp.  72-76 

—78— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


His  personal  excellence  is  certainly  without  a  stain  or  a  shadow, 
His  intellect,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  is  among  the  clearest, 
richest  and  profoundest  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  Indeed,  it 
seems  to  us,  that  in  the  faculty  of  abstract  thinking— in,  so  to 
say,  the  sphere  of  pure  thought — he  has  few  if  any  living  rivals. 
Every  cultivated  person  of  the  slightest  metaphysical  turn  who 
has  heard  Alexander  Campbell  in  the  pulpit,  or  in  the  social  circle, 
must  have  been  especially  impressed  by  the  wonderful  facility 
with  which  his  faculties  move  in  the  highest  planes  of  thought. 
Ultimate  facts  stand  forth  as  boldly  in  his  consciousness  as  sen- 
sations do  in  that  of  most  other  men.  He  grasps  and  handles  the 
highest,  sublimest  and  most  comprehensive  principles  as  if  they 
were  the  liveliest  impressions  of  the  senses.  No  poet's  soul  is 
more  crowded  with  imagery  than  is  his  with  the  ripest  forms  of 
thought.  Surely  the  life  of  a  man  thus  excellent  and  gifted  is  a 
part  of  the  common  treasure  of  society.  In  his  essential  charac- 
ter he?  belongs  to  no  party,  but  to  the  world.* 

Ex-President  Madison  said  of  him: 

I  regard  him  as  the  ablest  and  most  original  expounder  of 
the  Scriptures  I  have  ever  heard. 

Dr.  Heman  Humphrey,  then  president  of  Am- 
herst College,  said  of  him: 

He  speaks  like  a  master  of  assembles;  as  one  who  has  entire 
confidence  in  the  mastery  of  his  subject  and  his  powers,  and 
who  expects  to  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  his  hearers  with- 
out any  of  the  adventitious  aids  on  which  ordinary  men  find  it 
necessary  to  rely. 

In  his  brochure  on  * 'Alexander  Campbell  as  a 
Preacher,"  A.  Mcl^ean,  president  of  the  Foreign 

♦Ufe  of  Jeremiah  S,  Black,  pp.  76-78 

—79— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


Christian  Missionary  Society,  speaking  of  the  ver- 
satility of  Mr.  Campbell's  genius,  says: 

Alexander  Campbell  was  a  many-sided  man.  He  was  an  au- 
thor and  editor.  Sixty  volumes  have  his  name  on  their  title 
pages.  He  founded  a  college  and  was  its  president  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  He  taught  regularly  all  those  years.  He  was  a  de- 
fender of  the  faith  as  he  held  it.  He  had  oral  discussions  lasting 
for  days  with  John  Baptist  Purcell,  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop; 
with  Robert  Owen,  of  Lanark,  the  Secularist;  and  with  several 
other  of  the  strong  men  of  their  time.  He  had  written  discus- 
sions with  skeptics,  Jews.  Unitarians,  Universalists,  Baptists  and 
Pedobaptists.  These  discussions  covered  nearly  all  questions  re- 
lating to  Christian  doctrine  and  to  church  polity.  Mr,  Campbell 
was  a  man  of  affairs.  He  married  and  raised  a  family.  He  was 
the  father  of  fourteen  children.  He  managed  a  large  business 
and  made  money.  He  served  the  state  that  adopted  him.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  Virginia.  He 
sat  in  council  with  ex-president  Madison,  with  chief  justice  Mar- 
shall, with  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  and  with  many  other  of  the 
illustrious  men  of  the  old  commonwealth.  Mr.  Campbell  was  a 
conversationatist  worthy  to  rank  with  I,uther  and  Johnson  and 
Macaulay  and  Coleridge. 

And  yet  this  great  reformer,  with  these  transcen- 
dent powers  wholly  consecrated  to  the  work  of  re- 
ligious reform,  is  often  conceived  by  the  ministry 
and  religious  editors  of  to-day  as  a  narrow  partisan 
holding  some  extreme  theories  about  baptism!  It  is 
no  uncommon  thing  for  public  speakers  and  authors 
of  books,  in  enumerating  the  great  preachers  and  the 
great  movements  of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  omit 
even  the  slightest  reference  to  this  greatest  reformer 

—80— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  the  century,  and  the  religious  movement  which  he 
inaugurated.  But  this  is  not  exceptional.  It  is  the 
usual  fate  of  great  reformers,  in  every  sphere  of  life, 
to  be  compelled  to  wait  until  future  times  for  their 
vindication. 


(6) 


—81— 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Learners  of  Christ. 


"It  is  now  plain  to  every  one  that  truth 
is  not  given  all  at  once,  and  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  can  not  be,  but  is  slowly  devel- 
oped through  long  processes  of  thinking 
as  experience  accumulates  and  knowledge 
advances.  Every  church,  therefore,  needs 
to  be  very  hospitable  to  new  truth  from 
whatever  quarter  it  may  come,  whether 
from  science  and  from  advancing  history, 
or  from  the  criticism  of  history,  secular  and 
religious,  or  from  the  developing  moral  na- 
ture and  insight  of  the  religious  communi- 
ty. Of  course,  if  any  church  is  founded  on 
some  petty  whim  or  prejudice,  or  if  any 
church  has  staked  its  authority  on  obsolete 
science  or  disproved  history,  such  church 
must  object  to  freedom  of  thought,  with 
the  sure  result  that  sooner  or  later  it  will 
be  abandoned  of  God  and  man,  unless  it 
bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance.  But 
all  other  churches,  if  they  have  faith  in 
God,  must  also  have  faith  that  truth  will  do 
no  harm  and  can  not  itself  be  finally  harmed. 
As  Lowell  has  it,  'God's  universe  is  fire- 
proof and  it  is  safe  to  strike  a  match.'  " — 
"Studies  in  Christianity,'*  by  Prof.  Borden 
ParJcer  Bowne. 


—84— 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Learners  of  Christ. 

At  this  point  it  might  be  well  to  recall  the  steps 
of  progress  which  had,  thus  far,  been  made  under 
the  leadership  of  Thomas  and  Alexander  Campbell, 
since  the  inauguration  of  their  movement  to  pro- 
mote Christian  union. 

1 .  Their  first  step  was  to  clearly  appprehend  the 
evils  of  division  among  Christians,  as  contrary  to 
the  mind  of  Christ  and  the  teaching  of  the  apostles, 
and  to  feel  the  necessity  of  an  earnest  effort  to 
bring  about  that  unity  for  which  Jesus  prayed. 

2.  They  next  saw  that  the  desired  unity  could 
not  be  brought  about  on  any  of  the  existing  creeds 
of  Christendom,  and  they,  therefore,  urged  that  all 
such  creeds  be  rejected  in  so  far  as  they  have  been 
made  standards  of  authority  and  bases  of  union. 
This  was  not  a  repudiation  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
creeds,  but  of  the  use  made  of  them  in  promot- 
ing division.  They  rejected  no  evangelical  doc- 
trine of  the  creeds. 

3.  In  repudiating  human  creeds  as  tests  of  fel- 
lowship and  terms  of  union  and  communion,  they 

—85— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


fell  back  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  only 
infallible  and  authoritative  rule  of  faith  and  practice, 
and  urged  the  strictest  conformity  to  their  teaching, 
and  especially  to  the  New  Testament,  which  is 
designed  for  Christians  as  their  guide  in  faith,  doc- 
trine and  duty. 

4.  In  turning  to  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone, 
as  their  rule  of  faith  and  conduct,  they  discovered 
what  is  the  real  object  of  Christian  faith,. and  what 
was  the  original  confession  of  faith — that  it  was  not 
doctrinal,  but  personal;  not  what  but  whom  we 
believe — namely,  the  confession  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God  and  Saviour.*  This  confes- 
sion, they  saw,  included  all  that  Christ  was,  and 
taught,  and  commanded,  being  simple  enough  for  a 
child  to  make,  centered  as  it  is  in  a  person,  and  yet 
comprehensive  enough  for  the  wisest  Christian  phi- 
losopher. 

5.  Having  taken  their  place  now  at  the  feet  of 
Christ  to  learn  of  him,  they  saw  that  baptism  was 
an  ordinance  which  he  had  instituted  for  believers 
in  him,  who  might  thus  express  their  faith  in,  and 
surrender  to  him.  By  a  fresh  and  original  study  of 
the  New  Testament,  they  saw,  by  the  very  meaning 
of  the  word  in  the  original,  and  by  the  practice  of 
the  apostles,  and  by  the  symbolic  character  of  the 
ordinance,  that  it  involves  immersion — a  burial  in 

*Matt,  16, 13, 18. 

—86— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


and  resurrection  from  the  water.  This'  necessary 
union  of  faith  with  baptism,  in  order  that  the  latter 
might  have  any  efficacy,  they  had  come  to  see  ren- 
dered useless  and  harmful  the  practice  of  infant  bap- 
tism, and  they  had  accordingly  omitted  it  from  their 
program  of  reform. 

It  must  be  admitted  by  every  candid  reader  that 
these  steps  marked  distinct  progress  in  the  work  of 
religious  reform.  None  of  these  things  were  seen  at 
first  to  be  involved  in  their  declaration  of  principles, 
the  discarding  of  creeds  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
Bible  alone  as  authoritative;  but  as  they  had  come 
to  see  what  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  his  apostles 
required  of  them,  they  had  conformed  their  teaching 
and  practice  thereto.  Like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  had 
seen  the  vision  of  the  glorified  Christ,  they  were 
*  *not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision. "  At  no  time 
in  the  past,  and  not  even  at  the  point  at  which  they 
had  now  arrived,  did  they  regard  themselves  as  hav- 
ing attained  to  a  full  knowledge  of  the  truth.  But 
they  were  following  after,  if  they  might  apprehend 
that  for  which  they  had  been  apprehended  by 
Christ.  It  was  this  spirit  that  made  them  truly  Dis- 
ciples, that  is.  Learners  of  Christ.  As  the  biog- 
rapher of  Mr.  Campbell  says: 

During  their  course  thus  far,  this  band  of  reformers  had  rec- 
ognized themselves  to  be,  not  a  sect,  with  its  truths  and  errors 
equally  stereotyped,  and  equally  immutable,  but  a  party  of  prog- 
fess — as  learners  in  the  school  of  Christ,   * 'Whereto  they  had 

—87— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


attained"  they  endeavored  "to  walk  by  the  same  rule  and  to 
mind  the  same  things."  In  seeking  for  the  "old  paths"  they  had, 
thus  far,  found  each  new  truth  to  lead  them  to  another  still 
more  obvious  as  a  single  track  often  guides  the  traveler,  lost  in 
the  forest,  to  a  pathway,  which  in  turn  conducts  him  to  one  still 
wider  and  more  easily  pursued.* 

There  were  further  truths  not  as  yet  seen  which 
had  yet  to  be  learned,  and  even  those  we  have  men- 
tioned above  were  to  be  apprehended  in  a  much 
clearer  light,  together  with  all  the  implications  con- 
tained in  them.  Had  they  been  content  to  have 
stereotyped  the  views  to  which  they  had  then  at- 
tained, other  reformers  must  necessarily  have  fol- 
lowed them  to  carry  on  their  uncompleted  work.  It 
is  equally  true  to-day  of  that  same  movement  which 
they  inaugurated,  that  if  it  becomes  content  with  its 
past  attainments  in  knowledge,  and  allows  them  to 
become  stereotyped,  either  in  a  written  or  unwritten 
creed,  refusing  to  keep  an  open  mind  for  a  larger 
and  fuller  apprehension  of  God's  unfolding  truth,  its 
mission  as  a  reformation  will  have  ended  and  others 
must  take  up  the  work  and  carry  it  on  to  comple- 
tion. 

But  the  steps  above  enumerated  had  separated 
them  from  the  Pedobaptist  world,  with  which  they 
had  hitherto  been  identified,  and  they  were  accused 
of  starting  a  new  sector  party,  even  while  denouncing 
the  evils  of  division,  and   pleading   for  Christian 

♦Memoirs  of  Thomas  Campbell,  p.  404, 
—88— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


union.  It  is  in  evidence  that  they  felt  keenly  this  re- 
proach, and  sought,  in  every  possible  way,  to  avoid  it. 

Referring  to  this  charge  Mr.  Campbell  said: 

Am  I  asked  why  I  am  not  a  party  man?  Or  why  I  do  not  join 
some  party?  I  ask,  in  return,  which  party  would  the  Apostle 
Paul  join  if  now  on  earth?  Or,  in  other  words,  which  party 
would  receive  him.* 

He  further  explains  why  he  cannot  be  a  party 
man;  that  is,  join  any  existing  ecclesiastical  organ- 
ization, by  saying  that  ^'the  parties  oppose  reforma- 
tion. They  all  pray  for  it,  but  they  will  not  work 
for  it.  None  of  them  dare  return  to  the  original 
standard."  That  one  could  be  a  Christian  simply 
without  any  prefix  or  affix  and  without  acknowledg- 
ing allegiance  to  any  human  creed  or  to  any  existing 
ecclesiastical  organization  was  something  not  readily 
admitted,  and  by  some  not  easily  comprehended. 

Notwithstanding  these  convictions,  there  were  two 
outstanding  facts  which  were  destined  to  influence 
the  course  of  these  reformers.  One  of  these  was 
their  utter  disinclination  to  add  another  to  the  exist- 
ing independent  religious  bodies.  The  other  was, 
that  the  steps  which  they  had  now  taken  brought 
them  into  close  sympathy,  on  many  points,  with 
another  great  religious  body,  namely,  the  Baptists. 
Was  there  sufficient  oneness  of  faith,  and  teaching, 

♦Memoirs  of  Thomas  Campbell,  p.  353, 

— S9— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 

and  aim,  between  these  reformers  and  the  Baptists 
to  enable  them  to  coalesce  and  work  together  for  the 
unity  and  purity  of  the  church?  History  was  yet  to 
answer  that  question. 


—90— 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Union  With  The  Baptists. 


Looking  at  our  past  history,  it  is  difficult 
to  say  what  would  have  been  the  fortunes 
of  A.  Campbell's  reformatory  enterprise, 
during  its  first  two  or  three  decades  if  it 
had  not  found  an  admirably  propitious  field 
among  the  Baptists,  It  certainly  would 
not  have  made  the  remarkable  progress 
which  signalized  its  early  history.  This  is 
a  fact  all  must  not  forget.  The  influence 
of  our  connection  with  the  Baptists  on  the 
entire  history  of  the  reformation,  is  a  sub- 
ject worthy  of  our  most  appreciative  study. 
In  this  respect  we  owe  much  to  the  Bap- 
tists, in  spite  of  the  sad  fact  that  they 
often  became  our  most  determined  oppo- 
nents,— Frof.  C.  L.  Loos,  in  '  *Jleformation 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century,'' 


—92— 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Union  With  The  Baptists. 

When  it  became  known  among  tlie  Baptists  that 
the  church  at  Brush  Run,  under  the  leadership  of 
Thomas  and  Alexander  Campbell,  had  adopted  im- 
mersion as  the  scriptural  form  of  baptism,  and  that 
they  now  held  and  taught  that  only  penitent  believ- 
ers were  proper  subjects  of  baptism,  and  that  their 
views  of  church  government  were  very  similar  to 
those  of  Baptists,  favoring  the  autonomy  of  each  lo- 
cal church,  they  quite  naturally  made  overtures  to 
the  Campbells  to  identify  themselves  with  the  Bap- 
tist Association  in  whose  bounds  the  church  was  lo- 
cated. They  regarded  it  as  no  small  triumph  for 
Baptist  principles  that  these  two  able  and  independ- 
ent reformers,  pursuing  their  investigations  with  the 
single  purpose  of  ascertaining  what  was  the  mind  of 
Christ  concerning  his  church  and  its  ordinances,  had 
reached  conclusions  for  which  the  Baptists  had  stood 
for  so  long  a  time.  It  is  to  their  credit  that  they 
made  overtures  for  union,  feeling  that  there  was 
enough  held  in  common  bet  ween  themselves  and  these 
reformers  to  justify  such  union.  The  Campbells  were 

—93— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


disinclined  at  first  to  consider  favorably  the  proposi- 
tion looking  to  union  for  reasons  previously  stated,  but 
further  acquaintance  with  the  Baptist  people,  with 
whom  Alexander  Campbell  was  better  pleased  than 
with  the  ministers  of  that  section,  in  that  day,  and 
the  strong  desire  to  avoid  a  new  and  independent 
movement,  caused  them  to  decide  that,  on  certain 
conditions,  their  church  would  become  identified  with 
the  Redstone  Baptist  Association.  The  question  was 
brought  before  the  Brush  Run  church  in  the  autumn 
of  1813,  and  the  church  drew  up  a  statement  of  its 
religious  position  at  that  time,  and  expressed  a  will- 
ingness to  unite  with  the  Association  above  mention- 
ed on  the  simple  condition  that  they  be  "allowed  to 
teach  and  preach  whatever  they  learned  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures.*'  It  is  evident  from  this  condition 
that  neither  the  Campbells  nor  their  followers  at  this 
time  regarded  themselves  as  having  learned  all  that 
the  Scriptures  might  require  of  them,  and  they  in- 
sisted on  the  liberty  which  they  had  hitherto  exer- 
cised, of  conforming  their  teaching  and  practice  to 
any  new  truths  which  they  might  learn. 

This  document  was  presented  to  the  Redstone  As- 
sociation, and  after  no  little  debate  it  was  voted  to 
receive  the  Brush  Run  church  on  the  conditions 
stated.  Thus  was  brought  about  the  union  of  these 
reformers  with  the  Baptists,  which  was  destined  to 
make  an  indelible  mark  in  religious  history.   Not  all 

— 94r- 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  Baptists  were  favorable  to  the  union.  Some  of 
the  more  conservative  ministers  feared  that  this 
avowed  purpose  of  the  reformers  of  conforming  their 
teaching  and  practice  to  any  new  discoveries  of  truth 
might  be  the  means  of  introducing  innovations  among 
the  Baptists,  which  would  be  out  of  harmony  with 
their  historic  position.  Even  at  that  time  Alexander 
Campbell,  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  reformers, 
held  views  out  of  harmony  with  the  teaching  of  the 
Baptists  of  that  day.  These  differences  especially  re- 
lated ( I )  to  the  place  and  purpose  of  baptism  in  the 
Christian  system;  (2)  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper;  (3)  the  nature  and  means  of  regen- 
eration; (4)  the  relation  between  the  old  and  new 
covenants,  and,  as  summing  up  all  of  these,  (5)  the 
recognition  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Campbell  and  those 
who  stood  with  him  of  the  need  of  religious  reform- 
ation, and  a  much  closer  conformity  to  New  Testa- 
ment teaching,  with  the  view  of  bringing  about  the 
unity  of  a  divided  church.  In  addition  to  the  fore- 
going, the  Baptists  of  the  Redstone  Association  had 
accepted  the  Philadelphia  Confession  of  Faith  as  their 
creed,  which  contained  points  of  doctrine  to  which 
Mr.  Campbell  could  not  subscribe.  In  spite  of  these 
differences,  Mr.  Campbell  regarded  the  Baptists  as 
more  closely  conformed  to  New  Testament  teaching 
than  any  existing  religious  body,  and  freer  in  spirit 
to  adopt  principles  of  reform  than  others,  and  no 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


doubt  hoped  that  a  closer  contact  with  them  would 
tend  to  lessen  their  differences,  and  to  advance  the 
principles  of  reform  which  he  held  to  be  important. 

Now  that  Mr.  Campbell  was  regarded  as  a  Bap- 
tist minister  he  had  free  access  to  Baptist  churches 
wherever  he  went,  and  he  never  failed  to  present  his 
ideas  of  religious  reform.  Proud  of  the  new  champion 
of  their  cause,  the  Baptists  selected  Mr.  Campbell  to 
conduct  two  debates  for  them,  one  with  Mr.  Walker 
in  1820,  and  the  other  with  Mr.  Maccalla  in  1823. 
These  debates  gave  Mr.  Campbell  a  great  opportunity 
for  bringing  his  views  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  atten- 
tion of  Baptists,  many  of  whom  were  ready  to  accept 
them.  Nevertheless,  the  opposition  which  existed  to 
Mr.  Campbell  in  the  beginning  of  this  union  on  the 
part  of  a  certain  element,  was  intensified  by  a  sermon 
on  the  law,  which  he  delivered  at  one  of  their  associ- 
ations, in  which  he  contrasted  the  two  covenants, 
showing  that  Christians  are  not  under  law,  but  under 
grace;  not  under  Moses,  but  under  Christ;  not  under 
the  old  covenant,  but  under  the  new.  So  bitter  be- 
came the  opposition  that  Mr.  Campbell  and  the  Brush 
Run  Church  voluntarily  withdrew  from  the  Associa- 
tion, and  identified  themselves  with  the  Mahoning 
Association  in  the  Western  Reserve,  which  proved 
far  more  favorable  to  the  reformation  which  Mr. 
Campbell  urged.  This  Association  ultimately  be- 
came identified  with  the  Reformatory  movement  of 

—96— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Mr.  Campbell.  And  so  it  came  about  that  at  the  end 
of  a  period  of  about  fifteen  years  this  union  between 
the  Baptists  and  the  reformers  ended,  and  henceforth 
the  churches  identified  with  the  Reformation  were 
regarded  as  independent  of  the  Baptists  and  of  any 
other  existing  religious  organization. 


(7) 


—97— 


CHAPTER  X. 
Mr.  CampbklIv's  Task  Outunkd. 


How  can  we  stand  fast  in  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free,  while 
standing  fast  also  in  the  unity  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  one?  Roman  Catholicism 
secured  union  of  a  kind,  but  it  sacrificed 
liberty.  Protestantism  secured  liberty,  but 
at  the  sacrifice  of  union.  Are  these  two 
principles,  then,  essentially  antagonistic, 
the  one  to  the  other?  Are  they  mutually 
exclusive  terms,  so  that  they  who  enjoy  the 
one  must  do  so  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  other? 
This  can  not  be,  for  Christ  not  only 
taught  both  union  and.  liberty  as  princi- 
ples of  his  kingdom,  but  he  enjoined  them 
upon  his  followers.  How  can  they  be  rec- 
onciled? .  .  .  Liberty  in  Christ  and  union 
through  loyalty  to  Christ — that  is  the  har- 
monization of  these  two  principles  of  the 
gospel.  Loyalty  to  all  that  Christ  has  com- 
manded— that  gives  us  unity.  Loyalty  to 
Christ  only,  and  the  rejection  of  all  human 
authority  in  religion — that  gives  us  liberty. 
— "Christian  Union:  A  Historical  Study,'* 
ty  J.  E.  Garrison, 


—100— 


CHAPTER  X, 


Mr.  Campbell's  Task  Outlined. 

With  the  severance  of  ecclesiastical  relations  with 
the  Baptists,  the  religious  movement  inaugurated  by 
the  Campbells  entered  a  new  phase  of  its  existence 
and  came  to  that  degree  of  self-consciousness  as  an 
independent  movement  which  enabled  it  to  face  its 
own  future.  Perhaps  at  this  point  it  would  be  appro- 
priate to  outline  the  work  which  Mr.  Campbell  con- 
ceived as  the  task  which  Providence  had  set  before 
him.  Roman  Catholicism  had  accentuated  unity  and 
sacrificed  liberty,  resulting  in  religious  despotism. 
Protestantism  accentuated  liberty  and  sacrificed  unity, 
resulting  in  division,  or  religious  anarchy.  How 
can  these  two  principles,  both  of  w^hich  seem  to  be 
taught  in  the  Scriptures,  and  to  be  vital  to  religion, 
be  harmonized  and  preserved  in  the  church?  Has 
the  church  ever  confronted  a  more  important  problem 
in  all  its  history  than  that?  To  the  solution  of  this 
problem  Mr.  Campbell  devoted  his  superior  talents, 
his  religious  genius,  his  learning  and  his  life-long 
labors.  We  can  not  do  better  than  to  quote  here 
what  seems  to  us  an  admirable  statement  of  the 

—101— 


The:  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


problem,  from  a  work  entitled  '  'Alexander  Campbell's 
Theology,"  in  relation  to  the  task  which  confronted 
Protestantism  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century. 

*'Thetaskof  philosophy  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury may  be  described  in  the  most  general  terms  as 
an  attempt  to  transcend  the  individualism  which 
was  developed  by  the  eighteenth;  i.  e.,  to  use  it,  to 
control  it,  to  pass  beyond  it  to  a  unity  which  shall 
embody  but  shall  not  crush  it. 

''The  problem  of  the  religious  world  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  nineteenth  century  was  a  similar  one. 
Protestant  individualism  had  been  fully  developed  on 
the  side  of  division  and  separation.  That  this  could 
not  be  endured  as  a  permanent  condition  was  evi- 
denced by  the  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  restore 
unity.  The  conditions  of  the  problem  and  the  need 
of  a  solution  have  now  been  brought  clearly  to  light. 
The  need  of  the  hour  was  for  the  discovery  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  synthesis  by  which,  without  restricting  the 
liberty  of  any  man,  a  practical  and  effective  union  of 
religious  forces  might  be  obtained.  The  problem 
was  to  transcend  religious  individualism  by  finding 
a  basis  for  religious  solidarity. 

"The  whole  history  of  Protestantism  had  been  a 
continual  demonstration  of  the  impossibility  of  unit- 
ing on  the  basis  of  a  complete  theology,  even  a 
professedly  biblical  theology.  The  exercise  of  the 
right  of  private  judgment  is  a  guarantee  that  there 


Th^  Story  of  a  Century. 


will  always  be  many  differences  of  opinion  as  to  what 
the  Bible  teaches  upon  certain  points  of  doctrine. 
The  attempt  to  reduce  Christianity  to  its  simplest 
and  purest  form  by  emphasis  upon  the  feeling  of  the 
individual  as  the  criterion  of  religion,  had  quickened 
and  enthused  the  church  but  had  contributed  little  to 
the  solution  of  the  problem  of  unity.  Equally  un- 
successful, and  far  more  disastrous,  had  been  the 
opposite  attempt  to  get  at  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity by  a  process  of  pure  reason,  based  on  a  theory 
of  knowledge  the  foundation  of  which  was  the  sense 
perception  of  the  individual.  The  significance  of 
Alexander  Campbell's  contribution  to  the  question  of 
Christian  union  is  that  he  took  the  matter  up  just  at 
this  point,  and  proposed  another  principle  of  union. 
The  unity  of  the  church  is  to  be  based,  not  upon  a 
complete  system  of  biblical  or  dogmatic  theology,  nor 
upon  anything  which  is  to  be  found  within  the  indi- 
vidual himself;  but  upon  the  authority  of  Christ  and 
the  terms  which  he  has  laid  down  as  the  conditions 
of  salvation. 

*'Mr.  Campbell  frequently  spoke  of  his  movement 
as  an  attempt  to  secure  union  *upon  the  Bible', 
but  it  was  evident  from  the  whole  course  of  his 
thought  that  this  did  not  mean  union  upon  his  in- 
terpretation of  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  upon  every 
point  of  Christian  doctrine.  The  latter  would  have 
been  simply  a  reaffirmation  of  the  old  dictum  that 


Thi:  Story  of  a  Century. 


*tlie  Bible  and  the  Bible  alone  is  the  religion  of 
Protestants. '  It  was  rather  Mr.  Campbell's  idea  that 
the  Bible  is  to  be  taken  as  the  authority  for  deter- 
mining what  is  essential  in  Christianity.  But  the 
whole  Bible  is  not  taken  up  with  depicting  original 
and  essential  Christianity.  Therefore  the  real  basis 
of  unity  is  not  the  entire  biblical  teaching  upon  all 
points,  about  many  of  which  there  would  be  dif- 
ferences of  interpretation,  but  the  practice  of  the  early 
church  under  the  guidance  of  the  apostles,  represent- 
ing the  authority  of  Christ.  The  question  to  be 
answered  is.  What  did  the  apostles,  taught  by  Christ, 
consider  the  essentials  of  a  church? 

*'This  distinction  between  union  on  the  Bible,  in 
in  the  sense  of  union  on  all  the  doctrines  which  each 
individual  conceives  to  be  taught  in  the  Bible,  and 
union  on  the  Bible,  in  the  sense  of  union  on  the  bibli- 
cal statements  regarding  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity is  an  important  one  to  bear  in  mind,  as  it  helps 
to  define  the  position  which  ]\Ir.  Campbell's  theology 
occupied  in  his  general  scheme  of  thought.  His  the- 
ology was  his  interpretation  of  the  teaching  of 
Scripture  on  a  great  many  points,  and  it  shows  the 
influence  of  some  contemporary  systems  of  theology 
and  philosophy.  But  he  did  not  make  his  theology 
his  basis  for  union.  For  example,  he  conceived  that 
faith,  repentance  and  baptism  v/ere  essentials  of 
Christianity,  and  were  therefore  included  in  the  basis 

— 104r— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  union.  But  his  interpretation  of  the  nature  of 
faith,  the  manner  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  operates 
in  conversion,  and  the  design  of  baptism  in  the 
scheme  of  redemption  were  parts  of  his  theology 
which  he  taught  as  truths  but  did  not  erect  into  tests 
of  fellowship. 

While  his  whole  movement  was  a  revolt  against 
the  results  of  eighteenth  century  individualism,  as 
manifested  in  the  condition  of  Christendom  as  divided 
into  innumerable  sects,  Mr.  Campbell  revolted  also 
no  less  against  its  method,  namely,  the  self-de- 
pendence of  the  individual  in  matters  of  religion. 
He  concurred  with  the  general  movement  of  the 
eighteenth  century  in  desiring  a  reduction  of  Chris- 
tianity to  its  essential  elements,  but  he  differed  from 
it  in  asserting  that  Christianity  could  never  be  re- 
duced to  its  essential  elements  through  the  exercise 
of  the  unaided  human  reason,  or  through  dependence 
upon  the  emotions  of  man.  There  must  be  neces- 
sarily a  return  to  authority  for  the  establishment  of 
the  essential  basis  of  religion.  The  unity,  therefore, 
comes  not  from  within,  but  from  without.  Given  the 
individual  as  defined  according  to  I^ocke's  philosophy, 
and  there  can  be  v/ithin  him  no  universal  element  to 
serve  as  a  basis  of  unity  or  as  a  means  of  attaining 
such  a  basis. 

"Stated  in  his  own  terms,  then,  Mr.  Campbell's 
movement  would  be  defined  as  an  attempt  to  unite 

—105— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Christendom  by  a  restoration  of  the  essential  elements 
of  primitive  Christianity  as  defined  by  the  Scriptures. 
He  was  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  nobody  before 
had  ever  seriously  attempted  such  a  restoration  on 
such  a  basis.  All  previous  sects  and  dissenting 
bodies  had  been  built  on  creeds  and  confessions  with 
only  a  nominal,  or,  if  real,  a  short-lived  return  to  the 
authority  of  Scripture.  He  recognized  the  fact,  it  is 
true,  that  there  had  been  a  few  scattered  individuals, 
through  the  two  centuries  which  preceded  his  work, 
who  had  grasped  this  idea,  but  there  had  never  yet 
been  any  serious  attempt  to  apply  the  principle  to 
the  solution  of  the  problem.  *Not  until  within  the 
present  generation,'  says  Mr.  Campbell,  'did  any 
sect  or  party  in  Christendom  unite  and  build  upon 
the  Bible  alone.  Since  that  time  the  first  effort 
known  to  us,  to  abandon  the  whole  controversy  about 
creeds  and  reformations  and  to  restore  primitive 
Christianity,  or  to  build  alone  upon  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  the  chief  Corner  Stone, 
has  been  made.'  Attempts  had  been  made,  to  be 
sure,  to  deduct  from  the  Scriptures  complete  systems 
of  theology,  and  to  make  these  the  bases  of  successive 
reformations  of  the  church.  But  his  own  movement 
differed  from  these  in  seeking  for  the  authoritatively 
given  conditions  of  salvation  and  making  these  alone, 
as  the  essentials  of  Christianity,  the  basis  for  the 
unity  of  the  Church.    There  may  be  differences  of 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


theory  about  the  facts  of  the  gospel,  but  the  facts 
themselves  are  sure.  There  may  be  differences  of 
interpretation  in  regard  to  many  doctrines  taught  in 
the  Bible,  but,  when  all  prejudices  and  preconceived 
opinions  have  been  set  aside,  there  is  little  room  for 
differences  in  regard  to  the  few  simple  commands, 
obedience  to  which  was  the  only  condition  of  en- 
trance to  the  church  in  the  days  of  the  apostles. 

* 'Stated  in  a  word,  Mr.  Campbell's  method  of 
effecting  the  reconciliation  between  the  liberty  of  the 
individual  and  the  unity  of  the  whole  body,  was  a 
return  to  authority  for  essentials  and  the  admission 
of  individual  differences  in  non-essentials."* 

This  problem,  then,  which  Mr.  Campbell  set  for 
himself  and  for  the  movement  he  inaugurated,  and 
the  solution  which  he  proposed,  is  the  key  by  which 
alone  we  can  enter  into  any  proper  understanding  of 
his  own  life-work,  and  of  the  results  which  have  been 
achieved  by  him,  and  by  those  who  are  seeking  to 
carry  forward  the  work  which  he  began.  In  the  light 
of  this  purpose  and  principle,  we  shall  seek  to  epit- 
omize the  chief  results  of  the  Reformation  which  is 
now  approaching  its  first  Centennial  anniversary. 


•"Alexander  Campbell's  Theology,"  by  W.  B  Garrison,  Ph.  D.,  pp.  67-74. 
—107— 


CHAPTER  XI. 
Some  of  Mr.  Campbell's  Co-Laborers. 


Thomas  Campbell,  Alexander  Campbell, 
Walter  Scott  and  E.  Eichardson — what  il- 
lustrious names!  How  lofty  they  rise  be- 
fore us  in,  the  history  of  our  past,  of  the 
heroic  days  of  the  mighty  battle  for  the 
faith,  the  doctrine  and  life  of  the  primitive 
church!  How  worthy  their  lives  of  our 
reverence  and  love! — C.  L.  Loos,  in  Ee- 
formation  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 
▼  ▼  ▼ 

Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time. 

—Longfellow. 


—110— 


Walter  Scott. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Some  of  Mr.  Campbei^l's  Co-i.aborers. 

We  have  already  noted  the  important  part  taken 
by  Thomas  Campbell  in  the  initial  steps  of  the  Re- 
formation, and  of  his  special  fitness  for  this  work. 
Until  the  end  of  his  long  life  he  continued  to  be  an 
adviser  and  helper  of  his  son,  who  had  become  the 
real  leader  of  the  movement.  In  addition  to  him  there 
came  to  Mr.  CampbelPs  side,  other  men  who  seem 
to  have  been  pre-eminently  fitted  for  the  parts  which 
they  performed  in  carrying  forward  the  work  of  re- 
ligious reformation.  It  is  proper,  even  in  this  outline 
view  of  the  Reformation,  that  a  brief  sketch  be  giv- 
en of  some  of  the  chief  men  who,  in  an  earlier  period, 
stood  with  Mr.  Campbell  in  that  Reformation  which 
he  was  leading,  and  who  made  their  own  special 
contributions  to  it. 

I.     WALTER  SCOTT. 

In  about  the  year  1818  there  landed  in  New  York 
a  young  Scotch  Presbyterian  of  good  family  and  fine 
education,  named  Walter  Scott,  who,  like  many  an- 
other aspiring  young  man,  in  the  Old  World,  had 

—111— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


determined  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  New.  He  was 
born  in  Dumfriesshire,  Scotland,  October  31,  1796 
He  is  described  as  a  man  of  striking  appearance. 
He  had  received  a  fine  classic  education  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  and  was  a  man  of  rich  literary 
culture  and  broad  reading.  He  made  the  journey 
from  New  York  to  Pittsburg  on  foot  with  some  ac. 
quaintances  which  he  had  formed  in  New  York.  At 
Pittsburg  he  became  acquainted  with  a  countryman 
of  his,  Mr.  Forrester,  who  was  a  school  teacher  in 
that  city,  and  became  his  assistant  in  conducting  the 
school.  During  this  time  he  formed  the  acquain- 
tance of  a  Mr.  Richardson,  at  whose  home  he 
was  wont  to  spend,  occasionally,  a  pleasant  social 
evening,  and  thus  became  acquainted  with  his  oldest 
son,  Robert  Richardson,  then  thirteen  years  of  age, 
who  was  destined  to  perform  an  important  part  in 
the  Reformation.  Under  Mr.  Forrester's  teaching 
Walter  Scott  had  yielded  his  prejudice  and  former 
convictions,  and  had  been  immersed,  and  soon  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Forrester  in  the  management  of  the 
school,  in  which  young  Robert  Richardson  now  be- 
came an  earnest  student.  Walter  Scott  had  a  pro- 
foundly religious  nature,  and  the  seed  of  the  Word 
which  had  fallen  into  his  heart  found  rich  soil.  He 
soon  became  wholly  absorbed  in  the  study  of  the 
Bible  and  of  religious  problems.  Dr.  Richardson 
says  of  him  at  this  period: 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Every  moment  that  could  be  spared  from  necessary  duties  was 
devoted  to  the  Bible,  which  had  become  to  him  a  new  book, 
opening  up  to  his  astonished  mind  a  world  of  wonders,  of  which> 
amidst  the  misty  atmosphere  of  sectarianism,  he  hardly 
dreamed.  Especially  was  he  enraptured  with  the  simplicity  of 
the  gospel,  so  different  from  the  involved  and  complex  theolog- 
ical systems  of  the  day  .  .  .  Possessing  an  extraordinary  power  of 
analysis  and  classification,  he  was  soon  enabled  to  arrange  the 
Scripture  teaching  under  its  appropriate  heads  or  subjects,  and 
to  resolve  the  divine  plan  of  redemption  into  its  constituent  ele- 
ments. Having  at  the  same  time  an  ardent  fancy,  he  saw  in  the 
simple  facts  of  the  gospel  and  in  its  expressive  ordinances  a 
power  which  he  believed  capable  of  breaking  down  all  barriers 
of  religious  partyism  and  carrying  salvation  to  the  end  of  the 
earth. 

Dr.  Richardson  further  says  of  him: 

Above  all  things,  he  seemed  to  be  impressed  with  the  Divine 
glory  of  the  Redeemer  in  all  his  personal  and  official  relations. 
In  the  exercise  of  his  analytical  power,  he  soon  discovered  that 
the  testimonies  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John  were  written 
for  one  great,  specific  object,  and  that  this  was  to  prove  the 
proposition  that  Jesus  is  the  Christy  the  son  of  God,'^  and 
that  this  constitutes  the  central  truth  and  the  great  essential 
element  of  Christianity.  He  had  thus,  by  a  different  process, 
reached  the  same  standpoint  which  Mr.  Campbell  had  attained 
in  eliminating  from  the  Christian  faith  everything  that  was  for- 
eign to  its  nature.  Upon  this  theme  Mr.  Scott  delighted  to 
dwell.  .  .  .  The  beauty  of  the  character  of  Christ  seemed  to  be 
the  subject  of  his  continual  meditation  and  the  model  of  his 
daily  life.* 

Growing  thin  and  pale  from  his  arduous  labors 
and  studies,  he  was  invited  by  young  Richardson, 


=:vIen2oirs,  page  507. 
(S) 


—113— 


^  ^    ,       Th^  Story  of  a  Cejntury. 

wbo  was  then  his  friend  and  companion  as  well  as 
his  pupil,  to  walk  out  of  an  evening  to  his  father's 
garden  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city;  **but  his  mind 
could  not  be  divorced,  amid  such  recreations,  from  the 
high  theme  which  occupied  him.  Nature  in  all  its 
forms  seemed  to  speak  to  him  only  of  the  Creator; 
and  although,  gentle  and  affectionate  as  he  was,  he 
sought  ever  to  interest  himself  in  the  things  that  in- 
terested others,  his  mind  would  constantly  revert  to 
its  ruling  thought,  and  some  incident  in  their  ram- 
ble, some  casual  remark  in  their  conversation,  would 
at  once  open  up  the  fountain  of  religious  thought 
that  seemed  to  be  ever  seeking  for  an  outlet.* 

While  Walter  Scott  was  engaged  in  teaching  and 
preaching  at  Pittsburg,  Mr.  Campbell  visited  the 
city  and  formed  his  acquaintance.  Dr.  Richardson 
tells  us  that  **they  conceived  for  each  other  at  once 
the  warmest  personal  esteem — an  esteem  which  was 
based,  perhaps,  less  on  those  points  of  their  respec- 
tive characters  upon  which  they  agreed,  than  upon 
those  on  which  they  differed.'*  It  is  a  fact, 
often  overlooked,  that  friendships  and  fellowships 
often  find  their  foundation  and  justification  in  mat- 
ters of  difference  as  well  as  in  matters  of  likeness. 

Dr.  Richardson's  description  of  the  differences  and 
likenesses  of  the  two  men  is  so  discriminating  and 
clear,  and  presents  such  an  admirable  picture  of  the 

♦Memoirs,  p,  508. 

—114— 


The  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


two  great  men  who  were  destined  to  be  co-laborers 
in  the  same  cause,  that  we  can  not  do  better  than  to 
copy  the  same  from  his  Memoirs: 

Thus,  while  Mr  Campbell  was  fearless,  self-reliant  and  firm, 
Mr.  Scott  was  naturally  timid,  diffident  and  yielding;  and,  while 
the  former  was  calm,  steady  and  prudent,  the  latter  was  excit- 
able, variable  and  precipitate.  The  one  like  the  north  star  was 
ever  in  position,  unaffected  by  terrestrial  influences;  the  other 
like  the  magnetic  needle,  was  often  disturbed  and  trembling  on 
its  center,  yet  ever  returning  or  seeking  to  return  to  its  true  di- 
rection. Both  were  nobly  endowed  with  the  powers  of  higher 
reason — a  delicate  self-consciousness,  a  decided  will  and  a  clear 
perception  of  truth.  But,  as  it  regards  the  other  departments 
of  the  inner  nature,  in  Mr.  Campbell  the  understanding  predom. 
iuated,  in  Mr.  Scott  the  feelings;  and,  if  the  former  excelled  in 
imagination,  the  latter  was  superior  in  brilliancy  of  fancy.  If 
the  tendency  of  one  was  to  generalize,  to  take  wide  and  extend- 
ed views,  and  to  group  a  multitude  of  particulars  under  a  single 
head  or  principle,  that  of  the  other  was  to  analyze,  to  divide  sub- 
jects into  their  particulars  and  consider  their  dejtails.  If  the  one 
v/as  disposed  to  trace  analogies  and  evolve  the  remotest  corre- 
spondences of  relations,  the  other  delighted  in  comparisons  and 
sought  for  the  resemblances  of  things.  If  the  one  pos- 
sessed the  inductive  power  of  the  philosopher,  the  other 
had,  in  a  more  delicate  musical  faculty  and  more  active  ideality, 
a  larger  share  of  the  attributes  of  the  poet.  In  a  word,  in  almost 
all  those  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which  might  be  regard- 
ed differential  or  distinctive,  they  were  singularly  fitted  to  sup- 
ply each  other's  wants  and  to  form  a  rare  and  delightful  com- 
panionship. Nor  were  their  differences  in  personal  appearance 
and  physical  constitution  less  striking  or  less  susceptible  of 
agreeable  contrast.  For  while  Mr.  Campbell  was  tall,  vigorous 
and  athletic,  Mr.  Scott  was  not  above  the  average  height,  slender 
and  rather    spare  in  person  and  possessed  of  little  muscular 

—115— 


The  Story  of  a  Centura. 


strength.  While  the  aspect  of  the  one  was  ever  lively  and  cheer- 
ful even  in  repose,  that  of  the  other  was  abstracted,  meditative, 
and  sometimes  had  even  an  air  of  sadness.  Their  features,  too, 
were  very  different.  Mr.  Campbell's  face  had  no  straight  lines 
in  it.  Even  his  nose,  already  arched,  was  turned  slightly  to  the 
right,  and  his  eyes  and  hair  were  comparatively  light.  Mr. 
Scott's  nose  was  straight,  his  lips  rather  full,  but  delicately 
chiseled,  his  eyes  dark  and  lustrous,  full  of  intelligence  and 
softness,  and  without  the  peculiar  eagle  glance  so  striking  in 
Mr.  Campbell,  while  his  hair,  clustering  above  his  fine  ample 
forehead,  was  black  as  the  raven's  wing. 

Such  were  some  of  the  prominent  contrasts  of  these  two  em- 
inent advocates  of  reformation,  who  were  henceforth  destined  to 
share  each  other's  labors  and  trials,  to  promote  each  other's  dis- 
coveries of  truth,  and  to  emulate  each  other  in  their  efforts  to  re- 
store the  pure  primitive  apostolic  gospel  to  the  world.* 

Walter  Scott,  whose  sketch  v^e  have  just  given, 
might  well  be  called  our  pioneer  evangelist.  With 
the  new  light  of  the  gospel  which  the  Reformation 
had  given  him,  his  soul  became  aflame  with  zeal  to 
preach  this  gospel  to  others  in  its  simplicity,  sub- 
limity and  pov/er.  Like  John  the  Baptist,  he  was  *'a 
bright  and  shining  light"  to  many  of  the  churches 
where  he  preached.  With  his  analytical  mind  he  had 
arranged  the  gospel  into  a  simple  order  of  facts,  com- 
mands and  promises  which  the  ordinary  people  could 
easily  understand.  There  were  facts  to  be  believed, 
commands  to  be  obeyed  and  promises  to  be  enjoyed. 
The  gospel  order,  he  held,  was:  (i)  faith;  (2)  repent- 
ance; (3)  baptism;  (4)  remission  of  sins;  (5)  the 
Holy  Spirit.    This  analysis,  while  capable  of  becom- 

*Memoirs  pp.  510-513. 

—116— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


ing  a  mechanical  formula  with  certain  minds,  possess- 
ed the  advantage  of  being  readily  understood  and 
clearing  away  a  vast  amount  of  vagueness  and  mysti- 
cism which  had  become  associated  with  the  subject  of 
conversion.  The  formulation  of  the  gospel  in  this 
order,  together  with  a  sublime  emphasis  upon  the 
personal  glory,  majesty  and  official  authority  of  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  the  object  of  faith,  may  be  said  to  be 
Walter  Scott's  distinct  contribution  to  the  Reforma- 
tion which  he  had  so  heartily  espoused.  He  demon- 
strated the  practicability  of  his  method  of  presenting 
the  gospel  by  his  labors  in  the  Western  Reserve  of 
Ohio,  and  rendered  most  valuable  service  to  the  cause 
in  establishing  the  churches,  especially  of  the  Ma- 
honing Association,  in  their  attitude  toward  the  Re- 
formation. 

II.  ROBERT  RICHARDSON. 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  while  teaching  at 
Pittsburg  Walter  Scott  had,  as  a  student,  a  boy  nam- 
ed Robert  Richardson,  to  whom  he  became  greatly 
attached,  and  who  in  turn  felt  a  great  attachment  for 
his  teacher.  Under  the  careful  instruction  of  Mr. 
Scott,  Robert  Richardson,  though  reared  as  an  Epis- 
copalian, became  convinced  both  of  the  truth  and  of 
the  value  of  the  principles  taught  by  the  advocates  of 
the  new  Reformation.  He  had  studied  the  Greek  New 
Testament  under  his  beloved  teacher,  and  had  thus 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


familiarized  himself  with  the  original  sources  of 
Christianity.  He  studied  medicine,  and  became  a 
practicing  physician  in  his  young  manhood.  Being 
fond  of  literature,  he  became  the  master  of  a  fine  lit- 
erary style.  While  Walter  Scott  was  carrying  on  his 
evangelistic  work  on  the  Western  Reserve,  young  Dr. 
Richardson  traveled  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
to  tell  his  old  teacher  that  he  had  come  to  the  light 
of  the  **ancient  gospel,"  and  to  seek  baptism  at  his 
hands.  The  following  characterization  of  him  is 
given  by  Prof.  Charles  I^ouis  L^oos,  who  knew  him 
well: 

Robert  Richardson  was  endowed  with  much  more  than  ordinary 
intellectual  gifts;  and  these  he  cultivated  with  great  industry 
from  early  youth  to  his  mature  years.  He  was  also  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  word  a  man  of  intellectual  and  literary  habits.  He 
had  reached  good  attainments  in  the  classical  tongues,  and 
was  well  versed  in  French.  His  calling  and  mental  inclinations 
led  him  to  the  study  of  natural  sciences;  he  was  Professor  of 
hemistryand  kindred  sciences  in  Bethany  College  for  nineteen 
years.  Nature  was  a  field  he  explored  with  passionate  delight. 
He  had  a  special  predilection  for  the  higher  walks  of  literature. 
I  question  whether  any  man  among  us  ever  reached  higher  excel- 
lency in  literary  taste  and  culture  than  Dr.  Richardson.  Hi» 
writings  testify  to  this* 

But  Dr.  Richardson's  chief  claim  to  distinction,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  authority,  was  his  devotion  to 
the  Word  of  God  and  his  unwearied  study  of  that  vol- 
ume— not  simply  the  proof  texts  that  he  wished  to 

•  Reformation  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  pp.  76-77. 

—118— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


use  to  prove  certain  doctrines,  but  the  whole  Bible. 
He  excelled  as  an  expounder  of  the  Scriptures  and 
had  a  clear  understanding  of  the  principles  of  the  Re- 
formation which  he  had  accepted.  What  was  more 
than  these  accomplishments  still,  was  his  profound 
piety.  ^'He  was  thoroughly  evangelical  in  his  con- 
ceptions of  the  Bible  and  of  Christianity,"  as  Prof. 
hoos  tells  us,  and  as  his  writings  prove.  He  combined 
the  practice  of  medicine  with  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  and  was  also  a  constant  writer.  He  went  to 
Bethany  in  1835  to  assist  Mr.  Campbell  in  his  work 
on  the  Millennial  Harbinger^  a  monthly  periodical 
which  had  succeeded  the  Christian  Buptist,  For 
twenty  years  he  was  associated  intimately  with  Mr. 
Campbell,  and  his  influence  on  the  Reformation,  as 
the  older  men  among  us  will  testify,  was  most  salutary. 
His  views  of,  and  his  teaching  concerning,  the  Holy 
Spirit,  were,  in  some  respects,  in  advance  of  his  co- 
laborers,  and  of  the  great  majority  of  those  who  have 
come  after  him.  His  work  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
his  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  entitle  him  to 
an  honored  place  among  the  great  men  who  gave 
character,  influence  and  direction  to  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  nineteenth  century.  We  are  indebted 
to  the  influence  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Richardson  for 
the  fact  that  the  Reformation  has  been  held  within 
evangelical  lines  of  thought,  and  saved  from  those 
hurtful  extremes  into  which  some  of  its  professed  ad- 

—119— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


vocates,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  led.  It  is  a 
matter  for  devout  thanksgiving  to  us  all  that  it  can 
be  said  of  the  four  great  leaders  whom  we  have 
sketched — Thomas  and  Alexander  Campbell,  Walter 
Scott  and  Robert  Richardson — that  they  were  not  only 
soundly  evangelical  in  thought,  but  deeply  religious 
in  life.  Prof.  Charles  I^ouis  I^oos,  referring  to  them, 
says: 

The  sincere  piety  that  adorned  and  glorified  the  lives  of  these 
men,  and  so  powerfully  pervaded  their  teaching  and  preaching, 
must  be  preserved  as  a  sacred  legacy  to  us  and  our  Cause.  For 
nothing  is  more  utterly  false  than  that  our  fathers  were  mainly 
concerned  to  lead  men  to  correct  views  and  to  external  obedience. 
The  reverse  of  this  is  true.  They  were  eminently  pious  men 
themselves,  and  in  all  their  teaching  strove  to  call  men  to  godli- 
ness and  holiness  of  life.* 

This  testimony  is  from  one  now  far  past  his  four 
score  years,  who  knew  these  great  men  intimately  in 
their  private  and  public  life,  and  is  a  sufficient  refuta- 
tion of  the  false  views  which  many  opponents  of  the 
Reformation  have  come  to  entertain  concerning  these 
reformers.  This  fact  ought  to  be  an  inspiration  to 
the  younger  men  of  the  Reformation  to  hold  up  in 
their  lives  and  in  their  teaching  the  same  high  ideals 
of  personal  piety,  of  evangelical  faith,  and  of  loyalty 
to  Jesus  Christ,  which  are  presented  in  the  lives  and 
characters  of  these  heroic  men  of  the  past.  It  argues 
much  for  the  future  of  our  Cause  that  its  primal  im- 

♦Reformation  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  81. 

—120— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


pulse  and  shaping  came  from  men  who  walked  with 
God' ^  and  whose  deepest  motive  and  all-absorbing 
passion  was  to  glorify  God,  exalt  his  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
bring  about  the  unity  for  which  he  prayed,  and  thus 
hasten  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

There  will,  perhaps,  be  no  better  place  for  us  to 
say  a  word  concerning  the  unfortunate  impression 
which  has  gone  out  very  widely,  that  one  of  the  im- 
portant things  lacking  in  the  religious  movement  in- 
augurated by  these  men  is  its  failure  to  emphasize 
the  spiritual  side  of  Christianity,  and  that  it  has  been 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  external.  If  this  be  true, 
to  any  extent,  of  certain  advocates  of  the  Reformation 
in  the  later  times,  it  is  certainly  not  true  of  the  noble 
men  who  inaugurated  the  movement,  nor  is  such  a 
position  consistent  with  the  principles  of  the  move- 
ment itself.  Unfortunately,  it  is  true  of  a  certain  type 
of  mind  that  it  can  readily  see  what  is  formal  and  ex- 
ternal, but  finds  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  penetrate 
beneath  the  outward  and  formal  into  the  very  heart 
and  soul  which  these  outward  forms  and  symbols  are 
intended  to  express.  We  have  had  such  men  among 
us,  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  how,  through  an  em- 
phasis of  certain  neglected  truths,  there  came  to  be, 
for  a  time,  an  ^z^^r-emphasis  of  such  truths,  with  a 
corresponding  «;2^^r-emphasis  of  truths  even  more 
vital.  This  error  in  time  corrects  itself,  and  the  move- 
ment is  now  in  the  process  of  this  self-correction. 


Thb  Story  of  a  Century. 

Nothing  can  be  more  important,  at  the  present  time, 
than  to  give  such  proportion  to  our  teaching  as  will 
correct  the  evil  impression  that  has  gone  forth  con- 
cerning our  failure  to  apprehend  and  appreciate  the 
supremacy  of  the  spiritual  in  Christianity. 


—122— 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  Tributary  r^IovEMEXT. 


As  two  streams,  having  independent 
sources  in  tbe  high  mountain  ranges,  in  flow- 
ing onward  to  the  sea,  by  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation, often  meet  and  mingle  their  waters 
in  one  river,  broad  enough  and  deep  enough 
to  carry  vessels  of  commerce  on  its  bosom, 
so  the  two  independent  religious  movements 
— the  one  inaugurated  by  the  Campbells 
and  the  other  by  Barton  "W.  Stone — having 
the  same  general  aim,  the  unity  of  God's 
children,  naturally  flowed  together  under 
the  law  of  spiritual  gravitation,  when  un- 
hindered by  sectarian  alms,  forming  a 
mighty  stream  of  reformatory  influenioe, 
whose  effect  has  been  felt  in  every  part  of 
the  church  universal. 


—124— 


Barton  W.  Stone. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


A  Tributary  Movement. 

As  stated  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  sketch  there 
were  a  number  of  independent  movements  in  the 
early  part  of  the  previous  century,  which  had  for 
their  common  object  a  return  to  the  simple  faith  and 
practice  of  the'  New  Testament,  with  the  view  of 
correcting  existing  errors  in  the  religious  world,  and 
thereby  healing  its  divisions.  The  most  important 
of  these  tributary  movements,  and  the  one  which  ob- 
tained the  largest  following,  and  which  has  exerted 
most  permanent  influence  on  the  current  Reforma- 
tion, is  that  associated  with  the  name  and  labors 
of 

BARTON  W.  STONE. 

This  remarkable  man,  remarkable  no  less  for  his 
deep  piety  than  for  his  intellectual  ability,  was  born 
near  Port-Tobacco,  in  the  state  of  Maryland,  Decem- 
ber 24,  1772.  His  father  dying  when  he  was  young, 
his  widowed  mother  moved  with  the  family  to  what 
was  then  the  backwoods  of  Virginia,  in  1799,  during 
the  Revolutionary  War.  His  boyhood  was  spent 
amid  the  exciting  scenes  and  events  of  the  Revolu- 

—125— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


tion,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  intense  patriot- 
ism which  moved  the  people  of  the  colonies  at  that 
period.  In  early  life  he  manifested  an  intense  desire 
for  learning,  preferring  the  company  of  books  to 
that  of  his  young  companions.  He  became  familiar 
with  the  Bible  in  the  school  which  he  attended. 
Early  in  life,  too,  he  manifested  a  deep  interest  in 
religion,  and  sought  to  realize  the  religious  expe- 
rience which  was  common  in  those  days.  At  that 
time  the  war  between  the  Methodists  and  Baptists 
in  that  region  was  very  bitter,  and  his  mind  vacillat- 
ed between  those  two  contending  divisions  of  the 
lyord's  army.  Their  contentions  discouraged  him, 
and  he  for  a  time  "quit  praying  and  gave  himself  up 
to  the  youthful  sports  of  the  day."  When  he  was 
about  sixteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  what  was  then 
a  noted  academy  in  Guilford,  North  Carolina,  and 
commenced  the  study  of  Latin  grammar.  He  made 
rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  passing  by  a  number  of 
classes  in  his  zeal  for  securing  an  education.  Dur- 
ing his  attendance  at  that  institution  James  Mc- 
Gready,  an  earnest  revivalist  of  that  period,  visited 
the  region  and  preached.  Young  Stone  heard  him 
and  was  deeply  convicted  of  sin,  and  "resolved  from 
that  hour  to  seek  religion  at  the  sacrifice  of  every 
earthly  good."  In  his  Autobiography  he  says: 

"According  to  the  preaching,  and  the  experience 
of  the  pious  in  those  days,  I  anticipated  a  long  and 

—126— 


Ths  Story  of  a  Century. 


painful  struggle  before  I  should  be  prepared  to  come 
to  Christ,  or,  in  the  language  then  used,  before  I 
should  get  religion.  This  anticipation  was  com- 
pletely realized  by  me.  For  one  year  I  was  tossed 
on  the  waves  of  uncertainty  .  .  .  laboring,  praying, 
and  striving  to  obtain  saving  faith  .  .  .  sometimes 
despondent,  and  almost  despairing  of  ever  getting 
it.'^  This,  of  course  was  the  result  of  the  doctrine 
then  taught,  that  mankind  were  so  totally  depraved 
that  they  could  not  believe,  repent,  nor  obey  the 
gospel,  without  regeneration,  and  that  regeneration 
was  an  immediate  work  of  the  Spirit,  by  which  faith 
and  repentance  were  wrought  in  the  heart. 

He  continued  to  live  a  religious  life,  alternating 
between  hope  and  despair — hope,  when  he  would 
read  in  the  Bible  such  texts  as  *'God  is  love,**  but 
despairing  on  hearing  the  hyper-Calvinism  of  that 
day  preached.  He  resolved,  however,  to  devote 
himself  to  the  ministry,  and  began  to  study  with  the 
view  to  equip  himself  for  that  work.  He  was  con- 
fused by  such  theological  works  of  the  time  as 
Witsius  on  the  Trinity.  He  v/as  very  much  discour- 
aged at  the  outlook,  and  being  in  a  distressed  condi- 
tion financially,  he  went  to  Georgia  and  secured  a 
position  as  a  teacher  in  an  academy  near  Washing 
ton,  conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Methodists. 
After  teaching  at  this  institution  for  something  more 
than  a  year,  he  resigned  and  returned  to  North 

—127— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Carolina,  with  the  view  of  entering  the  ministry  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  Orange  Presbytery. 
He  received  license  to  preach,  and  made  an  appoint- 
ment in  connection  with  another  young  candidate 
for  the  ministry,  but  before  the  day  came  their  hearts 
failed  them,  and  they  left  the  neighborhood.  Soon 
after,  however,  he  v/as  induced  to  preach,  and  "was 
enabled  to  speak  with  boldness  and  with  profit  to  the 
people."  He  now  determined  to  go  v/est,  through 
what  was  then  a  wilderness  country  infested  by  In- 
dians, to  Western  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  After 
preaching  a  while  in  the  neighborhood  of  Caneridge 
and  Concord,  he  made  a  trip  to  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  for  the  purpose  of  soliciting  funds  for  the 
establishment  of  a  college  in  Kentucky,  under  the 
appointment  of  the  Transylvania  Presbytery.  In 
this  trip  to  the  south  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  slavery 
which  turned  him  against  that  institution,  and 
caused  him  eventually  to  free  his  slaves. 

In  the  fall  of  1798  he  returned  to  Kentucky  by 
way  of  Virginia,  where  he  visited  his  mother,  and 
accepted  a  call  from  the  united  congregations  of 
Caneridge  and  Concord.  He  accepted  the  call,  and 
the  day  was  appointed  for  his  ordination.  When 
the  time  arrived,  however,  he  stumbled  at  some  of 
the  doctrine  taught  in  the  Westminster  Confession 
and  decided  to  postpone  his  ordination.  Those  who 
were  to  conduct  the  service,  however,  took  him  aside 

—128— 


Tnt  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


and  labored  to  remove  his  objections.  "They  asked 
me  how  far  I  was  willing  to  receive  the  Confession. 
I  told  them  as  far  as  I  saw  it  consistent  with  the 
Word  of  God.  They  concluded  that  was  sufncient. 
I  went  into  Presbytery,  and  when  the  question  was 
proposed,  'Do  you  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession 
of  Faith  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught 
in  the  Bible?'  I  answered  aloud,  so  that  the  whole 
congregation  might  hear,  *I  do,  as  far  as  I  see  it  con- 
sistent with  the  word  of  God.'  No  objection  being 
made,  I  was  ordained." 

The  following  paragraph  from  his  Autobiography 
gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  state  of  his  mind 
at  the  time,  and  the  type  of  theology  then  prevail- 
ing: 

About  this  time  my  mind  was  continually  tossed  on  the  waves 
of  speculative  divinity,  the  all-engrossing  theme  of  the  religious 
community  at  that  period.  Clashing,  controversial  opinions 
were  urged  by  the  different  sects  with  much  Zealand  bad  feeling. 
No  surer  sign  of  the  low  estate  of  true  religion.  I  at  that  time 
believed,  and  taught,  that  mankind  were  so  totally  depraved 
that  they  could  do  nothing  acceptable  to  God,  till  his  Spirit,  by 
some  physical,  almighty  and  mysterious  power  had  quickened, 
enlightened,  and  regenerated  the  heart,  and  thus  prepared  the 
sinner  to  believe  in  Jesus  for  salvation.  I  began  plainly  to  see 
that  if  God  did  not  perform  this  regenerating  work  in  all,  it 
must  be  because  he  chose  to  do  it  for  some  and  not  for  others, 
and  that  this  depended  on  his  own  sovereign  will  and  pleasure. 
It  then  required  no  depth  of  intellect  to  see  that  the  doctrine  is 
inseparably  linked  with  unconditional  election  and  reprobation, 
as  taught  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith.  They  are  vir- 
tually one;  and  this  was  the  reason  why  I  admitted  the  decree 
(9)  —129— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  election  and  reprobation,  having  admitted  the  doctrine  of 
total  depravity.    They  are  inseparable. 

Scores  of  objections  would  continually  roll  across  my  mind 
against  this  system,  These  I  imputed  to  the  blasphemous  sug- 
gestions of  Satan,  and  labored  to  repel  them  as  Satanic  tempta- 
tions, and  not  honestly  to  meet  them  with  scriptural  arguments. 
Often  when  I  was  addressing  the  listening  multitudes  on  the 
doctrine  of  total  depravity,  their  inability  to  believe — and  of  the 
necessity  of  the  physical  power  of  God  to  produce  faith;  and  then 
persuading  the  helpless  to  repent  and  believe  the  gospel,  my 
zeal  in  a  moment  would  be  chilled  at  the  contradiction.  How 
can  they  believe?  How  can  they  repent?  How  can  they  do  im- 
possibilities? How  can  they  be  guilty  in  not  doing  them?  Such 
thoughts  would  almost  stifle  utterance,  and  were  as  mountains 
pressing  me  down  to  the  shades  of  death.  I  tried  to  rest  in  the 
common  salvo  of  that  day,  i.  e.,  the  distinction  between  natural 
and  moral  ability  and  inability.  The  pulpits  were  continually 
ringing  with  that  doctrine;  but  to  my  mind  it  ceased  to  be  a  re- 
lief; for  by  whatever  name  it  be  called,  that  inability  was  in  the 
sinner,  and,  therefore,  he  could  not  believe  nor  repent,  but  must 
be  damned.  Wearied  with  the  works  and  doctrines  of  men,  and 
distrustful  of  their  influence,  I  made  the  Bible  my  constant  com- 
panion, I  honestly,  earnestly  and  prayerfully  sought  for  the 
truth,  determined  to  buy  it  at  the  sacrifice  of  everything  else.* 
♦Autobiography  of  Barton  W.  Stone,  pp.  30-31. 


—130— 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
From  Darkness  to  Light — A  Great  Revivai 


The  remembrance  of  that  fateful  gather- 
ing [the  Cane  Eidge  revival]  lingers  in 
Kentucky  after  the  lapse  of  a  century. 
Nothing  was  lacking  to  stir  to  its  pro- 
fondest  depths  the  imagination  and  emotion 
of  this  great  throng  of  men,  women  and 
children.  It  was  at  night  that  the  most 
terrible  scenes  were  witnessed,  when  the 
camp-fires  blazed  in  a  mighty  circle  around 
the  vast  audience  of  pioneers  bowed  in  de- 
votion. Beyond  was  the  blackness  of  the 
primeval  forests;  above,  the  night  wind  and 
the  foliage  and  the  stars.  As  the/darkness 
deepened,  the  exhortations  of  the  preachers 
became  more  fervent  and  impassioned,  their 
picturesque  prophecies  of  doom  more  lurid 
and  alarming,  the  volume  of  song  burst  all 
bonds  of  guidance  and  control,  and  broke 
again  and  again  from  the  throats  of  the 
people,  while  over  all,  at  intervals,  there 
rang  out  the  shout  of  ecstasy,  the  sob  and 
the  groan. — ^'Primitive  Traits  in  Religious 
Revivals/'  Fredericic  Morgan  Davenport, 
p.  75. 


—132— 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


From  Darkness  To  Light — A  Great  Revival. 

It  was  in  the  study  of  the  Bible  that  Barton  W. 
Stone  found  relief  from  the  mental  perplexities 
which  were  narrated  in  the  previous  chapter.  In 
his  autobiography  he  says: 

From  this  state  of  perplexity  I  was  relieved  by  the  precious 
Word  of  God.  From  reading  and  meditating  upon  it,  I  became 
convinced  that  God  did  love  the  whole  world,  and  that  the 
reason  why  he  did  not  save  all,  was  because  of  their  unbelief; 
and  that  the  reason  why  they  believed  not,  was  not  because  God 
did  not  exert  his  physical,  Almighty  power  in  them  to  make 
them  believe,  but  because  they  neglected  and  received  not 
his  testimony,  given  in  the  Word  concerning  his  Son.  "These 
are  written  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God,  and  that  believing,  ye  might  have  life  through  his 

name"  This  glimpse  of  faith — of  truth,  was  the  first  divine 

ray  of  light  that  ever  led  my  distressed,  perplexed  mind  from 
the  labyrinth  of  Calvinism,  and  error,  in  which  I  had  so  long 
been  bewildered.  It  was  that  which  led  me  into  rich  pastures 
of  gospel  liberty.  I  now  saw  plainly  that  it  was  not  against  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  I  had  been  tempted 
to  blaspheme,  but  against  the  character  of  a  God  not  revealed  in 
the  Scriptures. 

It  was  a  time  of  profound  religious  apathy 
when  **not  only  the  power  of  religion  had  dis- 

—133— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


appeared,  but  also  the  very  form  of  it  was  waning 

fast  away.'*    About  this  time  Mr.  Stone  heard  of  a 

remarkable  religious    excitement  in  the  south  of 

Kentucky  and  in  Tennessee  under  the  labors  of 

James  McGready  and  other  Presbyterian  ministers, 

and  he  decided  to  attend  the  meeting. 

The  scene  to  me  [he  says]  was  new,  and  passing  strange.  It 
baffled  description.  Many,  very  many,  fell  down,  as  men  slain 
in  battle,  and  continued  for  hours  together  in  an  apparently 
breathless  and  motionless  state,  sometimes  for  a  few  moments 
reviving  and  exhibiting  symptoms  of  life  by  a  deep  groan, 
or  piercing  shriek,  or  by  a  prayer  for  mercy  most  fervently 
uttered.    After  lying  thus  for  hours  they  obtained  deliverance 

 With  astonishment  did  I  hear  men,  women  and  children, 

declaring  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  and  the  glorious  myste- 
ries of  the  gospel. 

After  remaining  and  witnessing  such  scenes  for 
several  days  his  conclusion  was  that  while  there  was 
much  fanaticism  in  the  meeting  there  was  also  much 
good. 

That  can  not  be  a  Satanic  work  which  brings  men  to  an  hum- 
ble confession  and  forsaking  of  sin,  to  solemn  prayer,  fervent 
praise  and  thanksgiving,  and  to  sincere  and  affectionate  exhorta- 
tion to  sinners  to  repent  and  come  to  Jesus  the  Saviour. 

He  returned  to  his  appointment  at  Caneridge 
on  Lord's  day.  Multitudes  had  assembled  to  hear 
the  news  from  the  meeting  he  had  attended.  He 
narrated  the  scenes  he  had  witnessed,  and  preached 
a  sermon  on  Christ's  commission,  urging  the  univer- 
sality of  the  gospel,  and  faith  as  the  condition  of  sal- 

—134— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


vation.  **The  congregation  was  affected  with  awful 
solemnity,  and  many  returned  home  weeping.**  At 
night  he  preached  at  Concord,  when  two  little  girls 
**were  struck  down  under  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  and  in  every  respect  were  exercised  as  those 
were  in  the  south  of  Kentucky."  In  a  few  days 
he  returned  to  Caneridge,  where  he  found  the  effects 
of  his  last  sermon  manifest  in  the  deep  religious 
interest  of  the  people.  Among  those  who  had  found 
the  Lord  was  one  Nathaniel  Rogers,  a  prominent 
man  in  the  community,  who,  on  seeing  Mr. 
Stone  enter  the  churchyard  ran  to  meet  him,  shout- 
ing the  praises  of  God,  and  they  embraced  each 
other.  The  people  left  the  church  building,  and 
gathered  around  them  and  *4n  less  than  twenty 
minutes  scores  had  fallen  to  the  ground.  Paleness, 
trembling  and  anxiety  appeared  in  all— some  at- 
tempted to  fly  from  the  scene  panic-stricken,  but 
they  either  fell  or  returned  immediately  to  the 
crowd — as  unable  to  get  away.  .  .  .  The  meet- 
ing continued  on  that  spot  in  the  open  air  till  late  at 
night,  and  many  found  peace  in  the  L^ord.*' 

**The  effects  of  this  meeting  through  the  coun- 
try,** says  Mr.  Stone,  **were  like  fire  in  dry  stubble 
driven  by  a  strong  wind.**  The  meeting  continued 
five  days.  All  seemed  to  unite  in  the  work.  Par- 
ty spirit,  abashed,  slunk  away.**  Soon  after  this, 
Mr.  Stone,  having  married  meanwhile,  returned 

—135— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


to  Caneridge  to  begin  another  meeting,  "on  Thurs- 
day or  Friday  before  the  third  Lord's  day  in  August, 
1801.'' 

He  writes: 

The  roads  were  literally  crowded  with  wagons,  carriages, 
horsemen,  footmen,  moving  to  the  solemn  camp.  The  sight  was 
affecting.  It  was  judged  by  military  men  on  the  ground  that 
there  were  between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  collected.  Four 
or  five  preachers  were  frequently  speaking  at  the  same  time  in 
different  parts  of  the  encampment  without  confusion.  Methodist 
and  Baptist  preachers  aided  in  the  work  and  all  appeared 
cordially  united  in  it — of  one  mind  and  one  soul,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners  seemed  to  be  the  great  object  of  all. 

This  was  the  great  Caneridge  revival;  a  particular 
description  of  which,  Mr.  Stone  says,  "would  fill 
a  volume,  and  then  the  half  would  not  be  told. 
The  numbers  converted  will  be  known  only  in 
eternity."  This  meeting  continued  six  or  seven 
days  and  nights,  and  would  have  continued  longer 
but  provisions  for  such  a  large  multitude  failed 
in  the  neighborhood.  The  bodily  agitations  con- 
nected with  this  meeting  are  described  at  some 
length  by  Mr.  Stone  himself  as  the  "falling  ex- 
ercise, the  jerks,  the  dancing  exercise,  the  barking 
exercise,  the  laughing  and  singing  exercise. "  It  is  dif- 
ficult to  account  for  these  strange  manifestations,  but 
we  are  concerned  chiefly  now  with  the  effects 
of  this  revival.  Associated  with  Mr.  Stone  were  a 
number  of  other  ministers  who  were  connected  with 

—136— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  Presbyterian  church,  namely,  Richard  McNemar, 
John  Thompson,  John  Dunlavy  and  Robert  Marshall. 
David  Purviance,  who  was  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  was  of  the  same  faith.  The  doctrine 
which  they  preached  at  that  time  was  *Hhat  God 
loved  the  world — the  whole  world,  and  sent  his 
Son  to  save  them,  on  condition  that  they  believed  in 
him;  that  the  gospel  was  the  means  of  salvation,  but 
that  this  means  would  never  be  effectual  to  this  end, 
until  believed  and  obeyed  by  us;  that  God  required 
us  to  believe  in  his  Son,  and  had  given  us  sufficient 
evidence  in  his  Word  to  produce  faith  in  us,  if 
attended  to  by  us.  .  .  .  We  urged  upon  the  sinner  to 
believe  now^  and  receive  salvation;  that  in  vain  they 
look  for  the  Spirit  to  be  given  them  while  they 
remained  in  unbelief;  they  must  believe  before 
the  Spirit  of  salvation  would  be  given  them.''  This 
does  not  seem  to  us  of  to-day  a  very  startling 
proclamation,  but  Mr.  Stone  says  that  *'When 
we  began  first  to  preach  these  things,  the  people  ap- 
peared to  have  just  awakened  from  the  sleep  of  ages; 
they  seemed  to  see  for  the  first  time  that  they  were 
responsible  beings,  and  that  a  refusal  to  use  the 
means  appointed  was  a  damning  sin." 

Soon  after  the  revival  ceased,  the  spirit  of  opposi- 
tion broke  out  against  these  men,  and  Mr.  Stone 
soon  saw,  as  did  the  Campbells,  that  his  separa- 
tion from  his  former  ecclesiastical  connection  was 

—137— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


necessary.  He  called  his  two  congregations  to- 
gether and  told  them  he  could  no  longer  conscien- 
tiously preach  to  support  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  that  his  labors  should  * 'henceforth  be  directed 
to  advance  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  irrespective  of 
party."  He  absolved  them  from  all  financial  ob- 
igation  to  him,  and  henceforth  was  a  free  man 
in  Christ.  For  a  while  Mr.  Stone  and  his  fellow- 
laborers  continued  their  work  under  the  name  of  the 
* 'Springfield  Presbytery."  In  about  one  year,  how- 
ever, they  became  convinced  that  there  was  no 
authority  for  such  an  eccelsiastical  organization,  and 
wrote  its  "Last  Will  and  Testament,"  consign- 
ing its  body  to  death,  together  with  its  name  and 
distinction,  its  power  of  making  laws,  etc.  One 
item  of  the  will  was  as  follows:  "We  will  that 
the  people  henceforth  take  the  Bible  as  the  only 
sure  guide  to  heaven,  and  as  many  as  are  offended 
with  other  books,  which  stand  in  competition  with 
it,  may  cast  them  into  the  fire  if  they  choose,  for  it 
is  better  to  enter  into  life  having  one  book,  than 
having  many  to  be  cast  into  hell." 

It  is  sad  to  add  that  of  the  six  men  who  signed 
this  document,  two  were  carried  away  by  the  delu- 
sion of  Shakerism,  and  two  others  subsequently 
returned  to  the  Preabyterian  fold.  Mr.  Stone 
continued  faithful,  however,  passing  through  some 
mental  tribulation  on  the  subject  of  the  atonement, 

—138— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 
until  he  reached  what  he  regarded  as  a  satisfactory 
view.  The  subject  of  baptism  also  now  engaged 
his  attention,  and  he  adds  that  *'some  with  himself 
began  to  conclude  that  it  was  ordained  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  ought  to  be  administered 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  to  all  believing  penitents."  In 
a  great  meeting  at  Concord,  when  mourners  were 
invited  every  day  to  collect  before  the  stand,  and 
when  brethren  were  praying  daily  for  the  same  peo- 
ple, and  none  seemed  to  be  comforted,  *'the  words 
of  Peter  at  Pentecost,"  he  says,  "rolled  through  my 
mind:  ^Repent  and  be  baptized  for  the  remission  of 
sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.'  "  He  arose  and  addressed  these  mourners 
in  the  language  of  Peter,  and  urged  them  to  comply. 
"Into  the  spirit  of  the  doctrine,"  he  says,  "I  was 
never  fully  led,  till  it  was  revived  by  Brother 
Alexander  Campbell,  some  years  after." 


—139— 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Disciples  and  Christians  Unite. 


Barton  W.  Stone  "was  criticised  by  some 
of  his  brethren  for  uniting  -with  the  move- 
ment of  Mr.  Campbell,  and  a  modern  his- 
torian has  even  denied  that  such  a  union 
■was  ever  formed!*  In  vindication  of  his 
course  in  seeking  fellowship  and  co-opera- 
tion with  Mr.  Campbell  he  savs: 

^'But  -what  else  could  we  do,  the  Bible 
being  our  directory?  Should  we  command 
them  to  leave  their  foundation  on  which 
we  stood — the  Bible  alone — when  they  had 
come  upon  the  same?  By  what  authority 
should  we  command?  Or  should  we  have 
left  this  foundation  to  them,  and  have  built 
another?  Or  sL-ould  we  have  remained  and 
fought  with  them  for  the  sole  possession? 
They  held  the  name  Christian  as  sacred  as 
we  did, — they  were  equally  averse  from  mak- 
ing opinions  the  test  of  fellowship — and 
equally  solicitous  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 
This  union,  irrespective  of  reproach,  I  view 
as  the  noblest  act  of  my  life. ' ' — Autobi- 
ography, p.  79. 

♦"Centennial  of  Religious  Journalism,"  pp.  325, 
326. 


—142— 


CHAPTER  XIV 


Disciples  and  Christians  Unite. 

As  Mr.  Campbell  had  come  in  contact  with  the 
Baptists  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  progress  of  his  work, 
and  had  formed  fraternal  associations  with  them,  so 
Mr.  Stone  in  his  work  in  Kentucky  had  a  similar  ex- 
perience with  the  people  known  as  the  "Separate 
Baptists.'*  At  one  of  his  appointments  he  found  the 
''Separate  Baptists"  in  their  annual  association,  and 
they  agreed  to  worship  together.  He  baptized  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  early  in  the  meeting,  which  had 
the  effect  of  bringing  the  Baptists  into  closer  sym- 
pathy with  him.  He  participated  freely  by  invitation 
in  their  deliberations:    He  says: 

I  exerted  myself  with  meekness  against  sectarianism,  formu- 
laries and  creeds,  and  labored  to  establish  the  scriptural  union  of 

Christians  and  their  scriptural  name  The  result  was,  that 

they  agreed  to  cast  away  their  formularies  and  creeds,  and  take 
the  Bible  alone  for  their  rule  of  faith  and  practice — to  throw  away 
their  name  Baptist,  and  take  the  name  Christian— to  bury  their 
association  and  to  become  one  with  us  in  the  great  work  of  Chris- 
tian union.  They  then  marched  up  in  a  band  to  th«  stand,  shout- 
ing the  praise  of  Ood,  and  proclaiming  aloud  what  they  had  done. 

—143— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


We  met  them,  and  embraced  each  other  with  Christian  love,  by 
which  the  union  was  cemented.  I  think  the  number  of  elders 
that  united  was  about  twelve,  After  this  the  work  gloriously 
progressed,  and  multitudes  were  added  to  the  Lord. 

It  was  about  the  year  1824  that  Mr.  Campbell  vis- 
ited Kentucky  on  a  preaching  tour,  when  he  and 
Mr.  Stone  met  for  the  first  time.  The  following  ac- 
count, from  Mr.  Stone's  own  pen,  of  his  impression 
of  Mr.  Campbell,  is  of  interest.  In  his  autobiography 
he  says: 

When  Alexander  Campbell,  of  Virginia,  appeared,  he  caused  a 
great  excitement  on  the  subject  of  religion  in  Kentucky  and  other 
states.  "Some  said»  he  is  a  good  man,  but  other  said,  nay;  for 
he  deceiveth  the  people."  When  he  came  into  Kentucky,  I  heard 
him  often  in  public  and  in  private.  I  was  pleased  with  his  man- 
ner and  matter.  I  saw  no  distinctive  feature  between  the  doc- 
trine he  preached  and  that  which  we  had  preached  for  many  years, 
except  on  baptism  for  remission  of  sins.  Even  this  I  had  once 
received  and  taught,  as  before  stated,  but  had  strangely  let  it  go 
from  my  mind,  till  Brother  Campbell  revived  it  afresh.  I  thought 
then  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  explicit  on  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit,  which  led  many  honest  Christians  to  think  he  denied 
them.  Had  he  been  as  explicit  then  as  since,  many  honest  souls 
would  have  been  still  with  us,  and  would  have  greatly  aided  the 
good  cause.  In  a  few  things  I  dissented  from  him,  but  was 
agreed  to  disagree. 

I  will  not  say  there  are  no  faults  in  Brother  Campbell;  but  that 
there  are  fewer,  perhaps,  in  him,  than  any  man  I  know  on  earth; 
and  over  these  few  my  love  would  throw  a  veil,  and  hide  them 
from  view  forever.  I  am  constrained  and  willingly  constrained,  to 
acknowledge  him  the  greatest  promoter  of  this  reformation  of  any 
man  living.    The  Lord  reward  him!* 

•  Autobiography,  pp.  75-76. 

—144— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Referring  again  to  the  positions  taken  by  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, he  comments  as  follows: 

These  truths  we  had  proclaimed  and  reiterated  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  from  the  press  and  from  the  pul- 
pit, many  years  before  A.  Campbell  and  his  associates  came  upon 
the  stage  as  aids  of  the  good  cause.  Their  aid  gave  a  new  im- 
petus to  the  Reformation  which  was  in  progress,  especially 
among  the  Baptists  in  Kentucky;  and  the  doctrine  spread  and 
greatly  increased  in  the  "West.  The  only  distinguishing  doctrine 
between  us  and  them  was  that  they  preached  baptism  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins  to  believing  penitents.  This  doctrine  had  not 
generally  obtained  amongst  us,  though  some  few  had  received  it, 
and  practiced  accordingly.  They  insisted  also  upon  weekly  com- 
munion, which  we  had  neglected.  It  was  believed  by  many,  and 
feared  by  us,  that  they  were  not  sufficiently  explicit  on  the  influ- 
ences of  the  Spirit.  Many  unguarded  things  were  spoken  and 
written  by  them  on  this  subject  calculated  to  excite  the  suspi- 
cions and  fears  of  the  people,  that  no  other  influence  was  needed 
than  that  in  the  written  word;  therefore  to  pray  to  God  for  help 
was  vain.  The  same  thing  had  been  objected  to  us  long  before, 
and  with  plausibility,  too;  for  we  also  had  been  unguarded  in  our 
expressions.  In  private  conversation  with  these  brethren  our 
fears  were  removed,  for  our  views  were  one.* 

Among  other  Baptists  in  Kentucky  who  had  receiv- 
ed the  teaching  of  Mr.  Campbell  and  had  become 
zealous  advocates  of  the  Preformation,  was  John  T. 
Johnson,  a  man  of  fine  character  and  great  ability  as 
an  evangelist  in  his  day.  He  and  Barton  W.  Stone 
lived  together  in  Georgetown  and  worshiped  together. 
These  men  became  convinced  that  a  union  between 
the  people  known  in  Kentucky  as  Christians,  under 

*  Autobiography,  p.  77. 

(10)  —145— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  leadership  of  Mr.  Stone,  and  those  known  as  Re 
formers,  or  Disciples  of  Christ,  who  had  accepted  the 
teaching  of  Mr.  Campbell,  should  be  united.  In 
reference  to  this  union  Mr.  Stone  writes: 

We  plainly  saw  that  we  were  ou  the  same  foundation,  in  the 
same  spirit,  an  1  preached  the  same  gospel.  We  agreed  to  unite 
our  energies  to  effect  a  union  between  our  different  societies. 
This  was  easily  effected  in  Kentucky;  and  in  order  to  confirm  this 
union,  we  became  co-editors  of  the  Christian  Messe7igey„  This 
union,  I  have  no  doubt,  would  have  been  as  easily  effected  in 
other  states  as  in  Kentucky,  had  there  not  been  a  few  ignorant, 
headstrong  bigots  on  both  sides,  who  were  more  influenced  to  re- 
tain and  augment  their  party,  than  to  save  the  world  by  uniting 
according  to  the  prayer  of  Jesus.  Some  irresponsible  zealots 
among  the  Reformers,  so-called,  would  publicly  and  zealously 
contend  against  sinners  praying,  or  that  professors  should  pray 
for  them — they  spurned  the  idea  that  preachers  should  pray  that 
God  would  assist  tham  in  declaring  his  truth  to  the  people— they 
rejected  from  Christianity  all  who  were  not  baptized  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins,  and  who  did  not  observe  the  weekly  communion; 
and  many  such  doctrines  they  preached.  The  old  Christians, 
who  were  unacquainted  with  the  preachers  of  informatioiJi  amongst 
us,  would  naturally  conclude  these  to  be  doctrines  of  us  all;  and 
they  rose  up  in  opposition  to  us  all,  representing  our  religion  as 
a  spiritless,  prayerless  religion,  and  dangerous  to  the  souls  of  men. 
They  ran  to  the  opposite  extreme  in  Ohio,  and  in  the  eastern 
states.  I  blame  not  the  Christians  for  opposing  such  doctrines, 
but  I  do  blame  the  more  intelligent  among  them,  that  they  did 
not  labor  to  allay  those  prejudices  of  the  people  by  teaching  them 
the  truth,  and  not  to  cherish  them,  as  many  of  then  did  in  their 
periodicals,  and  public  preaching.* 

Mr.  stone  is  right  as  to  the  reason  why  the  union 

which  prevailed  in  Kentucky  was  not  carried  out  in 

♦Autobiography,  p.  78. 

—146— 


I'he  Story  of  a  Ce^ntury. 


other  states.  He  is  right,  too,  regarding  the  extreme 
statements  of  some  who  were  associated  with  the  Dis- 
ciples, or  Reformers,  as  they  were  then  called  in  Ken- 
tucky, concerning  prayer  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  harm  that  has 
come  to  our  cause  by  the  extreme  position  on  these 
questions  by  a  few  men.  His  rebuke  of  the  old  Chris- 
tians for  treating  these  extreme  statements  as  if  they 
were  the  utterances  of  representative  men,  is  also  well 
deserved. 

Such  is  Barton  W.  Stone's  account  of  the  union 
formed  between  the  Christians  and  Disciples  of  Ken- 
tucky. For  giving  his  influence  in  favor  of  this 
union  he  was  severely  criticized  by  his  former  breth- 
ren, who  failed  to  come  with  him  into  the  union. 
Referring  to  this  he  asks: 

But  what  else  could  we  do,  the  Bible  being  our  directory? 
Should  we  command  them  to  leave  their  foundation  on  which 
we  stood —  the  Bible  alone — when  they  had  come  upon  the  same? 
By  what  authority  should  we  command?  Or  should  we  have  left 
this  foundation  to  them,  and  have  built  another?  Or  should  we 
have  remained,  and  fought  with  them  for  the  sole  possession? 
They  held  the  name  Christian  as  sacred  as  we  did — they  were 
equally  averse  from  making  opinions  the  test  of  fellowship — and 
equally  solicitous  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  This  union,  irre- 
sptctive  of  reproach,  I  view  as  the  noblest  act  of  my  life.* 

Doctrinally,  the  union  did  not  influence  greatly  the 
movement  of  which  it  became  a  part,  except,  per- 

*  Autobiography,  p.  79. 

—147— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


haps,  to  put  additional  emphasis  upon  the  subject  of 
prayer  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  it  brought  an  acqui- 
sition of  men  who  proved  of  great  value  to  the  cause 
of  the  Reformation,  and  a  needed  acquisition  of  evan- 
gelistic zeal.  The  chief  difference  between  the  two 
bodies  in  the  beginning  was  the  greater  emphasis 
which  Mr.  Campbell  placed  upon  the  divine  nature 
of  Christ;  but  very  soon  Mr.  Stone,  and  those  who 
stood  with  him,  came  into  substantial  agreement  with 
Mr.  Campbell  and  his  co-adjutors  on  this  vital  sub- 
ject. Other  matters  of  difference  adjusted  themselves 
readily,  proving  the  wisdom  of  those  who  advocated 
the  union.  The  influence  of  such  men  as  Samuel  and 
John  Rogers,  J.  A.  Gano,  T.  M.  Allen,  Henry  D. 
and  Francis  R.  Palmer,  in  addition  to  B.  W.  Stone, 
himself,  was  a  tremendous  gain,  and  its  effect  was 
felt  widely  through  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
Missouri.* 

*It  is  a  well  known  historic  fact  that  the  men  who  introduced  the  Reforma- 
tion into  Missouri  were  Stoneites,  who  had  learned  the  plea  for  union  at  the 
feet  of  Mr.  Stone.  The  first  congregations  established  in  the  territory  of  Mis- 
souri were  of  the  same  type.  In  about  the  year  1832,  Mr.  Campbell  visited 
Missouri  and  made  a  triumphal  tour  through  the  state,  being  heard  by  large 
audiences  wherever  he  preached.  That  visit  had  the  effect  of  bringing  the 
preachers  and  churches  of  Missouri  more  fully  to  the  position  advocated  by 
Mr.  Campbell  and  later  accepted  by  Mr.  Stone  himself. 


—148— 


CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Principi.es  of  Unity  Vindicated. 


* '  It  is  this  distinction  "between  sound- 
ness in  faith — a  genuinely  Christian  atti- 
tude of  the  soul  to  Christ,  in  virtue  of  which 
Christ  determines  the  spiritual  life  through- 
out— and  soundness  in  doctrine — the  accept- 
ance of  .some  established  intellectual  con- 
struction of  faitb,  on  which  emphasis  needs 
to  be  laid.  Soundness  m  faith  is  that  on 
which  Christianity  and  the  Church  depend 
for  their  very  being ;  but  the  construction  of 
Christian  doctrine  is  one  of  the  tasks  at 
which  Christian  intelligence  must  freely 
labor,  respecting,  no  doubt,  but  never 
bound  by,  the  efforts  or  attainments  of  the 
past. 

This,  it  may  be  said,  is  generally  ad- 
mitted, and  in  one  sense  this  is  true.  It  is 
admitted  by  individuals  *  *  *  But 
though  individual  Christians,  and  not  only 
those  w^ho  listen  to  the  gospel  but  those 
who  preach  it,  are  conscious  of  this  distinc- 
tion and  accept  its  conjsequences,  the 
Churches  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  done 
so.  They  are  Christian  organizations,  yet 
they  seem  to  be  based  on  doctrinal  state- 
ments which  most  of  their  members  have 
realized  are  not  the  actual  or  the  proper 
basis  of  Christian  life;  and  they  not  only 
find  it  difficult  to  conceive  any  other  basis, 
but  seem  to  suspect  those  who  speak  of  an- 
other of  striking  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
faith.  This  want  of  accord  between  the 
intellectual  attitude  of  the  Churches  acting 
oollectively,  and  that  of  their  individual 
members,  is  the  cause  not  only  of  discom- 
fort and  misunderstanding  within,  but  of 
much  scandal  and  reproach  without.  It  se- 
riously discredits  the  Church  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  to  which  it  wishes  to  appeal, 
and  it  is  urgent  to  ask  whether  there  is  any 
remedy  for  it." — "Jesus  and  The  Gospel," 
hy  James  Denny,  D.  B. 

—150— 


CHAPTER  XV. 


The  Principles  of  Unity  Vindicated. 

As  has  been  seen  from  the  foregoing,  the  union 
between  Mr.  Campbell  and  the  churches  of  the 
Reformation  with  Mr.  Stone  and  the  churches 
organized  under  his  leadership  in  Kentucky,  was 
not  based  on  perfect  agreement  in  opinion  on  all 
points  of  theology.  Mr.  Campbell  was  concerned  to 
know  that  Mr.  Stone^s  views  concerning  Christ  were 
essentially  sound,  and  untainted  with  Unitarian 
speculations.  When  he  became  convinced  of  this, 
and  saw  that  Mr.  Stone  was  laboring  for  the  same 
object  as  himself,  namely,  the  union  of  all  Christians 
through  a  return  to  simple  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity, he  favored  the  union.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  Mr.  Stone  saw  that  Mr.  Campbell  was  plead- 
ing for  the  same  great  end  for  which  he  had  been 
laboring,  and  had  convinced  himself  that  Mr.  Camp- 
bell's views  concerning  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
place  of  prayer  were  essentially  his  own  views, 
he  became  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  union.  The 
result  was,  as   history  shows,  that  the  ministers 

—151— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


connected  with  these  hitherto  distinct  movements 
were  soon  preaching  precisely  the  same  gospel,  and 
even  what  superficial  differences  had  existed  in  the 
beginning  soon  disappeared. 

These  principles  of  union  were  very  simple, 
namely,  the  surrender  of  party  names  and  human 
creeds,  so  far  as  they  were  considered  authoritative, 
or  as  bonds  of  union;  the  acceptance  of  the  Bible  as 
an  all-sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God — the  only  object  of  saving  faith; 
and  the  restoration  of  the  ordinances  to  their  orig- 
inal form  and  significance.  This  would  secure  and 
maintain  the  seven  elements  of  unity  mentioned  by 
Paul,  namely.  *^One  body'' — the  church  of  Christ; 
"one  Spirit" — the  Spirit  of  Christ,  or  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, to  dwell  in  that  body;  *'one  hope'' — the  hope  of 
being  made  like  Christ,  and  of  living  with  Him  for- 
ever; **one  Lord" — Jesus,  the  Christ,  the  only 
Saviour  of  sinners;  "one  faith" — faith  in  that  one 
Lord;  "one  baptism" — which  was  into,  and  under 
the  authority  of,  Jesus  Christ;  one  God  and  Father 
of  all — who  is  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  the  central 
truth  in  the  whole  plan  of  union,  as  well  as  in 
the  scheme  of  redemption,  is  Jesus  Christ.  Faith 
in  Him  as  the  Divine  Son  of  God  was  vital.  Every- 
thing else  follows  from  that.  Hence,  when  Mr. 
Campbell  received  a  proposition  looking  to  union 

—152— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


from  some  of  the  Christians''  of  the  East  who  were 
Arian,  and  who  were  at  the  same  time  seeking  union 
with  the  Unitarians,  he  rejected  the  proposition 
promptly.  No  compromise  on  this  vital  truth  was 
to  be  thought  of.  No  union  that  could  be  brought 
about  on  such  a  basis  would  meet  the  demands  of 
Christ's  prayer  for  the  oneness  of  His  followers. 
Mr.  Campbell's  own  views  on  this  subject  grew  in 
clearness  and  in  strength  with  increasing  study 
and  experience.  In  his  debate  with  Rev.  L,.  N. 
Rice,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  discussing  the 
proposition  on  the  subject  of  creeds,  and  defending 
his  basis  of  union  against  the  charge  of  latitu- 
dinarianism,  he  said: 

We  long  since  learned  the  lesson  that  to  draw  a  well  defined 
boundary  between  faith  and  opinion,  and,  while  we  earnestly 
contend  for  the  faith,  to  allow  perfect  freedom  of  opinion  and  of 
the  expression  of  the  opinion,  is  the  true  philosophy  of  church 
union  and  the  sovereign  antidote  against  heresy.  Hence  in  our 
communion  at  this  moment  we  have  as  strong  Calvinists  and  as 
strong  Arminians,  I  presume,  as  any  in  this  house — certainly 
many  that  have  been  such.  Yet  we  go  hand  in  hand  in  one 
faith,  one  hope,  and  in  all  Christian  union  and  co-operation  in 
the  great  cause  of  personal  sanctification  and  human  redemp- 
tion.   *    *  * 

It  is  not  the  object  of  our  efforts  to  make  men  think  alike  on  a 
thousand  themes.  I^et  them  think  as  they  like  on  any  matters 
of  human  opinion  and  upon  "doctrines  of  religion,"  provided  only 
they  hold  the  Head  Christ  and  keep  his  commandments.  I  have 
learned  not  only  the  theory,  but  the  fact,  that  if  you  want  opin- 
ionism  to  cease  or  subside,  you  mi>st  not  call  up  and  debate  every 
thing  that  men  think  or  say.     Voti  may  debate  anything  into 

—153— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


consequence,  or  you  may,  by  a  dignified  silence,  waste  it  into  ob- 
livion.''—T>ebsiiQy  p.  797. 

We  have  italicized  the  foregoing  sentence  which 
deserves  to  be  written  in  gold.  We  doubt  if  Mr. 
Campbell  ever  said  a  wiser  thing.  Mr.  Rice  urged 
that  this  foundation  was  too  broad  and  would  lead  to 
confusion.    Mr.  Campbell  again  replied: 

The  gentleman  complains  that  our  foundation  is  too  broad;  too 
liberal.  It  is  indeed  broad,  liberal  and  strong.  If  it  were  not 
so,  it  would  not  be  a  Christian  foandation.  Christianity  is  a  lib- 
eral institution.  It  was  conceived  in  view  of  the  ruin  of 
the  world.  God  looked  upon  not  the  thousand  millions 
of  one  age,  but  the  untold  millions  of  all  ages.  And  he  looked 
with  the  inconceivable  compassion  of  a  divine  Father,  rich 
in  mercy  and  plenteous  iu  redemption.  *  *  *  He  bids  all  na- 
tions, languages  and  tribes  of  men  a  hearty  welcome  to  the  rich 
provisions  of  his  bounteous  table,  made  large  enough  and  well 
supplied  with  the  richest  provisions  of  his  unwasting  fullness. 
Surely,  then,  that  ought  to  be  a  large  house  on  a  broad  founda- 
tion that  has  iu  it  a  table  for  saved  men  from  every  nation  under 
heaven. 

He  has  commanded  a  simple  story  to  be  told,  leveled  to  the  ap- 
prehension of  all.  It  is  expressed  in  plain,  clear  and  forcible 
terms.  The  great  cardinal  principles  upon  which  the  kingdom 
rests  are  made  intelligible  to  all,  and  every  one  who  sincerely 
believes  these  and  is  baptized  is,  without  any  other  instrument, 
creed,  covenant  or  bond,  entitled  to  the  rank  and  immunities  of 
the  city  of  God,  the  spiritual  Jerusalem,  the  residence  of  the 
great  King.  This  is  precisely  our  foundation.  Strong  or  weak, 
broad  or  narrow,  it  is  commensurate  with  the  Christian  charac- 
ter. It  embraces  all  that  believe  in  Jesus  as  the  Christ,  of 
all  nations,  sects  and  parties,  and  makes  them  all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus.— Debate,  p.  808. 

—154— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


With  this  clear  and  scriptural  conception  of  unity, 
supplemented  by  an  equally  clear  understanding  of 
the  principles  of  New  Testament  evangelism,  and 
re-enforced  and  encouraged  by  the  example  of  unity 
above  stated,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Reformation 
went  forward  now  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Mr.  Camp- 
bell had,  as  early  as  1813,  begun  a  monthly  publica- 
tion known  as  the  Christian  Baptist^  in  which  he 
struck  herculean  blows  against  existing  abuses,  and 
in  some  instances,  it  must  be  confessed,  carried  his 
warfare  to  an  extreme,  as  he  subsequently  came  to 
see.  The  criticism  against  the  clergy  and  mission- 
ary organizations  were,  of  course,  not  intended  to  be 
in  opposition  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  nor  to 
mission  work  at  home  .or  abroad,  but  were  intended 
against  abuses  which  no  doubt  existed.  The  dis- 
crimination, however,  was  not  made  with  sufficient 
clearness,  if,  indeed,  Mr.  Campbell  always  drew  this 
distinction  clearly  in  his  own  mind.  The  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Mahoning  Association,  by  Mr.  Camp- 
bell's co-laborers,  though  we  believe  against  the 
judgment  of  Mr.  Campbell  himself,  and  the  some- 
what similar  action  of  Mr.  Stone  and  his  co-workers 
in  abandoning  the  Springfield  Presbytery,  as  their 
co-operation  of  churches  was  called  for  a  while, 
indicate  a  feeling  of  opposition  against  any  formal 
system  of  co-operation  at  that  time.  It  would  have 
been  wiser  had  these  plans  of  co-operation  been 

—155— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


purged  of  any  false  methods  or  evil  tendencies  con- 
nected with  them  and  the  co-operative  organizations 
continued. 

The  Christian  Baptist^  the  name  of  which  was  a 
concession  to  Baptist  sentiment,  was  changed  to  the 
Millesimal  Harbijiger  in  1830,  of  which  he  contin- 
ued the  editor  until  1863.  He  further  added  to  his 
labors  and  to  his  methods  of  propagating  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Reformation  by  founding  Bethany  Col- 
lege, whose  charter  was  granted  in  the  year  1840. 
Of  this  institution  Mr.  Campbell  was  president  dur- 
ing his  lifetime,  and  a  large  number  of  ministers 
who  subsequently  obtained  a  high  reputation  as 
ministers  and  teachers,  and  who  became  pillars  of 
strength  for  the  cause,  were  educated  within  its 
halls,  and  at  the  feet  of  its  great  president.  Besides 
Mr.  Campbell's  labors  as  college  president  and  as 
preacher  and  teacher,  he  conducted  several  public 
debates,  on  religious  subjects,  as  with  Walker  in 
1820;  McCalla  in  1823;  Owen  in  1829;  Bishop 
Purcell  in  1837;  N.  L.  Rice,  1843.  ^ith  no 

small  reluctance  that  he  adopted  this  method  of 
defending  the  truth,  but  under  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances he  came  to  believe  that  it  was  not  only  jus- 
tifiable, but  highly  expedient.  The  custom,  how- 
ever, was  largely  abused  later  on,  and  with  men  of 
smaller  minds  served  to  develop  a  party  spirit  and  a 
pugilistic  method  which  proved  a  hindrance  rather 

—156— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 

than  a  help  to  the  cause.  Its  discontinuance  is  a 
mark  of  genuine  progress  for  which  we  can  not  be 
too  grateful. 


—157— 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Education  and  Organization. 


It  was  inevitable  that  the  new  life,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  new  ideas,  principles  and 
methods  of  the  reformation,  should  seek 
to  express  and  to  propagate  itself  in  suit- 
able forms  of  organized  and  co-operative 
effort.  What  movement  has  ever  periaa- 
nently  influenced  the  life  of  mankind  with- 
out such  organization?  Hence  the  founet- 
ing  of  colleges  and  the  formation  of  mis- 
sionary oganizations  were  essential  to  the 
continuous  life  and  growth  of  the  move- 
ment. That  these  have  come  into  existence 
as  thev  were  needed,  and  are  prospering 
is  the  best  proof  the  deepening  and  ex- 
panding life  of  the  reformation. 


—160— 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Education  axd  Organization. 


The  founding  of  Bethany  College  by  Alexander 
Campbell  in  the  year  1841  served  two  important  pur- 
poses: In  the  first  place,  a  large  number  of  men 
were  trained  for  the  ministry  within  its  walls,  who 
received  the  impress  of  Mr.  Campbell's  personality, 
and  who  subsequently  became  important  factors  in 
the  development  of  the  movement.  To  give  a  list  of 
the  names  of  such  men,  to  say  nothing  of  those  train- 
ed for  other  walks  of  life,  would  indicate  how  greatly 
our  cause  is  indebted  to  Bethany  College  for  its  work 
in  the  formative  period  of  our  movement.  In  the 
second  place,  the  founding  of  Bethany  College  gave 
an  impetus  to  religious  education,  and  threw  Mr. 
Campbell's  influence  on  the  side  of  an  educated 
ministry.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  within 
two  decades  following  the  establishment  of  Bethany 
College,  a  large  number  of  other  institutions  of  learn- 
ing in  different  parts  of  the  country  were  founded, 
some  of  them  to  fail  for  lack  of  support,  others  to  be- 
come permanent  factors  in  the  educational  life  of  the 
Reformation. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Bacon  College  had  been  established  in  Georgetown, 
Ky. ,  in  1838.  Transylvania  University,  now  located 
at  Lexington,  is  its  legitimate  successor.  The  Bible 
College  was  organized  as  a  later  feature  of  the  insti- 
tution. This  university  has  exerted,  and  is  still  ex- 
erting, a  wide  influence,  in  the  way  of  Christian  edu- 
cation, and  has  contributed  a  large  number  of  useful 
men  to  our  ministry.  The  Western  Reserve  Eclec- 
tric  institute  at  Hiram  began  its  career  in  1849,  and 
became  Hiram  College  in  1867,  and  is  reckoned  among 
the  most  useful  of  our  institutions  of  learning.  About 
the  same  time  Northwestern  Christian  University, 
now  known  as  Butler  College,  had  its  inception,  the 
charter  being  granted  in  1850.  It  is  located  in  In- 
dianapolis, and  is  now  one  of  our  best  endowed  and 
most  efficient  institutions  of  learning.  Eureka  Col- 
lege was  founded  in  1855  at  Eureka,  111.,  being  the 
outgrowth  of  the  Walnut  Grove  Academy,  and  is  to- 
day prospering  and  doing  an  excellent  work.  Abing- 
dan  College  was  founded  about  the  same  time,  at 
Abingdon,  111.,  and  after  accomplishing  great  good 
as  a  separate  institution,  subsequently  became  united 
with  Eureka  College.  Christian  University,  at  Cau- 
ton,  Mo.,  was  founded  about  this  time,  and  though 
hampered,  as  most  of  our  inststutions  have  been,  for 
lack  of  proper  endowment,  has  rendered,  and  is  ren- 
dering, important  service,  especially  in  the  way  of 
preparing  young  men  for  the  ministry.  Oskaloosa 

—162— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


College,  in  Iowa,  had  its  origin  in  the  same  decade, 
and,  after  filling  a  useful  place  for  a  number  of  years, 
was  merged  into  the  wider  educational  foundation  of 
Drake  University  at  Des  Moines,  which  has  become 
one  of  our  strongest  educational  centers.  Cotner 
University,  at  Bethany,  Neb.,  Texas  Christian  Uni- 
versity, at  Waco,  Oklahoma  Christian  University,  at 
Enid,  Milligan  College  in  Milligan,  Tenn.,  Virginia 
Christian  College,  at  Lynchburg,  Atlantic  Christian 
College,  Wilson,  N.  C,  Washington  Christian  Col- 
lege, Washington  D.  C,  and  the  School  of  Evangel- 
ists at  Kimberlin  Heights,  Tenn.,  are  newer  institu- 
tions, which  are  showing  signs  of  a  vigorous  life,  and 
attest  the  wide-spread  interest  felt  in  the  cause  of 
education. 

In  addition  to  these  mixed  schools  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  female  colleges,  such  as  Christian  College,  Co- 
lumbia, Mo. ;  William  Woods  College,  Fulton,  Mo. ; 
Cnristian  Female  College,  Camden  Point,  Mo. ;  Ham- 
ilton College,  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  Campbell-Hager- 
man  College,  in  the  same  city.  These  are  not  all  the 
organized  institutions  of  learning  among  us  by  any 
means,  but  they  serve  to  indicate  the  degree  of  inter- 
est felt  in  the  cause  of  education.  Aside  from  these 
separate  institutions  there  have  been  organized  in 
connection  with  onr  state  universities  such  institu- 
tions for  Bible  study  as  the  Missouri  Bible  College, 
Columbia,  Mo. ;  the  Berkeley  Bible  Seminary,  Ber- 

—163— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


keley,  Cal.;  the  Eugene  Divinity  School,  Eugene, 
Ore.,  besides  Bible  chairs  maintained  at  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich. ;  Charlottesville,  Va. ;  Kansas  University,  I^aw- 
rence,  Kan.,  and  Texas  University,  Austin,  in  con- 
nection with  the  State  Universities,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  our  Christian  Woman's  Board  of  Missions. 
In  addition  to  these  there  are  several  institutions  for 
the  education  of  the  colored  people,  as  the  Southern 
Christian  Institute  at  Edwards,  Miss.;  Christian  Bible 
School,  Louisville,  and  others  at  other  places  in  the 
South. 

Many  of  our  leading  institutions  of  learning  are 
now  receiving  additional  endowment,  and  there  is 
a  general  waking  up  among  the  Disciples  to  the  ab- 
solute necessity  of  increasing  the  efficiency  of  these 
schools  by  increased  endowment  and  equipment  if 
thev  are  to  do  adequately  the  work  which  we  expect 
of  them.  There  remains  much  yet  to  be  done  in  this 
respect,  but  there  is  evidence  of  a  new  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility on  the  part  of  our  men  of  means  for  the 
endowment  of  these  institutions. 

MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES. 

Although  the  brethren  in  their  new-born  zeal  had 
thought  it  necessary  to  dissolve  the  i\Iahoning  Associ- 
ation, a  little  experience  scon  taught  them  the  neces- 
sitv  of  some  general  organization  for  the  purpose  of 
co-operation  in  Christian  work.    This  question  came 

—164—^ 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


to  the  front  in  the  fourth  decade  of  the  past  century. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Alexander  Campbell  be- 
came a  leadinof  advocate  of  such  an  oro^anization. 

^ 'To  ask  for  a  positive  precept  for  everything  in 
the  details  of  duties  growing  out  of  the  various  exi- 
gencies of  the  Christian  church  and  the  world,"  he 
said,  would  be  quite  as  irrational  and  unscriptural  as 
to  ask  for  an  immutable  wardrobe  or  a  uniform  stand- 
ard of  apparel  for  all  persons  and  ages  in  the  Christian 
church.  .  .  .  In  all  things  pertaining  to  public  in- 
terest, not  of  Christian  faith,  piety,  or  morality,  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  its  aggregate  character  is 
left  free  and  unshackled  by  any  apostolic  authority. 
This  is  the  great  point  which  I  assert  as  of  capital 
importance  in  any  great  conventional  movement  or  co- 
operation in  advancing  the  public  interests  of  a  com- 
mon salvation."  This  point  is,  indeed,  of  "capital 
importance,"  in  any  co-operative  movement  seeking 
to  carry  out  Christ's  purpose  in  the  establishment  of 
the  church. 

It  was  the  clear  recognition  of  this  point  that  en- 
abled the  representatives  of  the  movement  to  meet 
in  Cincinnati  in  1849,  organize  the  American 

Christian  Missionary  Society.  This  event  was  the 
beginning  of  more  systematic  efforts  at  evangelization, 
and  the  extension  of  the  cause.  Since  then  there  have 
grown  up  in  the  various  states  State  Missionary  So- 
cieties having  for  their  purpose  the  co-operation  of 

—165— 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  churches  within  these  states  in  evangelistic  work 
within  their  borders.  In  addition  to  these  there  came 
into  existence  in  due  course  of  time  the  Foreign  Chris- 
tian Missionary  Society,  in  1875,  the  Christian 
Woman's  Board  of  Missions  in  1874,  whose  names 
define  their  character  and  purpose.  These  have  all 
become  powerful  and  effective  organizations,  raising 
and  expending  large  sums  of  money  each  year  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad.  A  later 
organization  was  the  National  Benevolent  Association 
of  the  Christian  Churches,  which  has  for  its  purpose 
the  caring  for  the  homeless  and  fatherless  children,  and 
for  the  aged  members  of  the  church — a  movement 
which  has  gone  forward  with  rapid  strides,  until  it 
has  homes  for  orphans  and  for  aged  and  infirm  mem- 
bers of  the  church  in  various  cities  and  states  of  the 
nation.  A  feature  of  our  benevolent  work  also  is  the 
Board  of  Ministerial  Relief,  which  has  for  its  special 
object  the  care  of  the  aged  and  dependent  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  and  their  families. 

These  organizations  have  come  into  existence  one 
by  one  as  the  need  for  them  has  been  felt,  and  they 
have  grown  and  prospered  just  to  the  extent  that  they 
have  ministered  to  the  welfare  of  the  cause.  Every- 
one of  them  marks  progress,  both  in  the  wider  and 
clearer  apprehension  of  our  duties  and  responsibilities, 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  most  effective  methods 
of  meeting  these  responsibilities.  It  scarcely  needs  to 

—166— 


The:  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


be  said  that  none  of  these  organizations  possesses,  or 
claims,  any  authority  over  the  churches.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  the  instruments  of  the  churches  for 
carrying  out  their  desires  and  purposes  in  respect  to 
education,  missionary  work,  and  benevolence.  They 
are  voluntary  co-operations  seeking  to  express  that 
unity  of  faith  and  purpose  which  we  have,  and  to 
more  effectively  accomplish,  by  united  effort,  our 
common  ends  and  aims. 

It  is  a  strange  perversion  of  the  principles  of  loyalty 
to  the  Scriptures  as  our  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  to 
oppose  such  methods  of  co-operation  as  those  men- 
tioned above,  because  they  are  not  specifically  author- 
ized in  the  Word  of  God.  Such  confusion  results  from 
a  failure  to  apprehend  the  distinction  made  by  Mr. 
Campbell  in  the  quotation  we  have  above  given.  Such 
an  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  in  relation  to  mis- 
sionary organizations  would,  if  applied  rigidly  else- 
where, disorganize  not  only  our  co-operative  efforts 
in  mission  work,  but  it  would  destroy  our  colleges, 
close  all  our  Sunday-schools,  stop  all  our  printing 
presses,  put  an  end  to  all  our  newspaper  publications 
and  bookmaking,  and  stop  all  progress,  thus  neces- 
sitating a  dismal  failure  of  the  church  in  carrying  out 
its  sublime  mission.  And  all  this  would  be  done  in 
the  name  of  loyalty  to  the  Scriptures!  This  mistake 
can  only  be  made  by  men  who  utterly  fail  to  catch 
|:he  free,  life-giving  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  are  in 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 

bondage  to  tlie  mere  letter  of  Scripture.  True  loyal- 
ty to  the  Word  of  God  does,  indeed,  forbid  any  organ- 
ization whose  object  and  methods  antagonize  the 
principles  of  the  gospel;  but  it  none  the  less  imposes 
the  obligation  to  form  such  organizations,  and  adopt 
such  methods,  as  experience  and  reason  teach  are  best 
adapted  to  carrying  out  the  great  purposes  and  princi- 
ples of  the  gospel  in  their  application  to  human 
needs. 


— 16«— 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
Rapid  Numerical  Increase. 


And  Peter  said  unto  them,  Eepent  ye, 
and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  remission 
of  sins;  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit— Acts  2:38. 

They  then  that  received  his  word  were 
baptized;  and  there  were  added  unto  them 
in  that  day  about  three  thousand  souls. 
—Acts  2:41. 

But  many  of  them  that  heard  the  word 
believed ;  and  the  number  of  the  men  came 
to  be  about  five  thousand.    Acts  4:4. 

And  the  multitude  of  them  that  believed 
were  of  one  heart  and  one  soul. — Acts  4:32. 

And  Philip  went  down  to  the  city  of  Sa- 
maria and  proclaimed  unto  them  the  Christ. 
.  .  .  When  they  believed  Philip  preaching 
good  tidings  concerning  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  they 
were  baptized,  both  men  and  women. — ^Acts 
8:5,  12. 

For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel;  for 
it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth;  to  the  Jew  first, 
and  also  to  the  Greek. — Eom.  1:16. 

There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  even 
as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  call- 
ing: one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one 
God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  over  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  all. — Eph.  4:4-6. 


—170— 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Rapid  Numerical  Increase. 

In  the  incipient  stage  of  the  movement,  while  the 
Reformation  was  feeling  its  way  to  definite  and  as- 
sured grounds,  the  growth  in  numbers  was  very  slow, 
for  opposition  was  bitter  and  party  spirit  prevented 
an  honest  hearing.  But  when  the  movement  had 
found  itself,  and  had  outlined  a  definite  program,  and 
had  organized  its  forces,  to  some  extent,  for  mission" 
ary  work  and  education,  the  growth  in  numbers  was 
very  rapid.  This  feature  has  continued  to  be  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  Reformation  throughout  its  history. 
This  fact  has  often  raised  the  question  among  our  re- 
ligious neighbors  as  to  the  cause,  or  causes,  which 
have  contributed  to  this  result.  It  may  be  well  to 
set  down  here  what  seems  a  sufficient  answer  to  this 
question  from  an  internal  point  of  view. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  much  in  the  plea  which 
the  Disciples  have  made  that  appeals  both  to  the 
judgment  and  to  the  conscience  of  men.  Some  of 
the  more  prominent  of  these  things  are:  (i)  The 
plea  for  Christian  union  as  against  the  divided  state 
of  Christendom,  based  on  a  return  to  New  Testament 

—171— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


Christianity,  involving  the  rejection  of  all  human 
creeds  as  tests  of  fellowship,  and  the  acceptance  of 
the  Bible  alone  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  (2) 
The  surrendering  of  party  names  for  the  scriptural 
names  given  to  the  followers  of  Christ  and  his  church. 
( 3 )  The  restoration  of  the  New  Testament  confession 
of  faith,  namely,  the  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God,  as  the  only  confession  of  faith  pre- 
requisite to  baptism;  (4)  The  restoration  of  the  two 
ordinances — baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper — to  their 
original  place  and  meaning;  (5)  The  organization  of 
churches  after  the  New  Testament  model,  with  local 
bishops  and  deacons,  each  being  independent  in  its 
local  affairs,  and  all  equal,  fraternal,  and  co-operative 
in  affairs  of  common  interest;  (6)  The  universality  of 
the  provisions  of  the  gospel  for  all  men,  as  against 
the  hyper-Calvinism  of  that  day,  which  excluded  a 
portion  of  the  human  race  from  its  benefits;  (7)  The 
ability  of  man  to  believe  and  obey  the  gospel  without 
the  aid  of  a  miracle  to  enable  him  to  do  so,  as  against 
the  doctrine  of  total  hereditary  depravity,  which  held 
that  man  was  wholly  passive  in  the  matter  of  his  sal- 
vation, and  could  not  exercise  faith  until  he  was  re- 
generated by  the  Holy  Spirit;  (8)  The  distinction 
between  faith  and  opinions,  in  the  former  of  which 
there  must  be  unity,  and  in  the  latter,  liberty;  (9) 
The  distinction  between  the  old  and  new  dispensa- 
tions— the  law  and  the  gospel;  Moses  and  Christ; 

—172— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


and  tlie  appeal  to  the  latter  as  the  supreme  arbiter  in 
all  questions  of  faith  and  duty. 

No  thoughtful  person  can  examine  carefully  and 
without  prejudice  these  positions  without  recognizing 
their  strength  and  their  adaptation  to  the  intelligence 
and  the  plain,  practical  common  sense  of  the  common 
people.  The  plea  for  union,  though  unpopular  at 
first,  fell  in  with  a  growing  tide  of  sentiment,  which 
it  helped  to  create,  and  found  an  answering  response 
in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  who  have  outgrown  the 
limitations  of  mere  denominationalism.  The  teach- 
ing concerning  regeneration  and  conversion  is  vastly 
more  in  harmony  with  modern  psychology  and  with 
the  laws  of  human  mind,  as  they  are  now  understood, 
than  was  the  old  teaching,  which  was  at  war  with 
reason  and  with  Scripture.  So  that  we  should  say 
the  strength  of  the  position  itself  is  reason  for  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  movement. 

In  the  second  place,  however,  the  emphasis  which 
has  been  laid  upon  evangelism  has  not  only  been  a 
characteristic  feature  of  the  Reformation,  but  a  chief 
cause  of  its  rapid  growth.  But  why  should  the  Dis- 
ciples have  given  this  emphasis  to  evangelism? 
Doubtless  the  very  logic  of  the  position  they  occupied 
required  it,  and  there  was  something  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  doctrine  held  which  impelled  it.  The  ac- 
centuation of  human  responsibility  in  conversion 
logically  implies  the  responsibility  of  the  church  to 

—173— 


The;  Story  of  a  Century. 


preacti  the  gospel  to  men,  and  urge  its  immediate  ac- 
ceptance upon  them.  And  then  there  is  something  in 
the  possession  of  good  news  that  impels  one  to  desire 
to  tell  it.  The  Disciples  held  a  view  of  the  gospel 
and  of  the  plan  of  human  salvation  that  brought  relief 
and  joy  to  thousands  of  despondent  and  despairing 
souls,  who  were  lost  in  the  religious  fog  and  mysti- 
cism created  by  the  older  theology,  and  it  was  an  un- 
failing source  of  inspiration  to  those  earlier  preach- 
ers, and,  in  a  measure,  to  all  their  successors  up  to 
the  present  time,  to  witness  the  glorious  effects  of 
their  preaching  in  clearing  away  confusion,  doubt  and 
despair  from  the  minds  of  honest  seekers  after  truth, 
and  in  bringing  joy  and  hope  into  their  lives.  In  this 
fact  we  must  find  the  explanation  of  why  the  earlier 
preachers  in  this  movement  traveled  far  and  wide, 
without  money  and  without  price,  preaching  the  Word 
and  bringing  thousands  into  the  new-found  light  of 
the  gospel. 

This  evangelistic  zeal  did  not  cease  with  the  ear- 
ly history  of  the  movement.  It  has  continued  to  this 
day.  Indeed,  never  in  the  history  of  this  Reforma- 
tion have  there  been  so  many  large  ingatherings  into 
the  churches  under  the  labors  of  evangelists  as  at  the 
present  time.  This  fact  in  itself  shows  that  the  Dis- 
ciples have  found  a  method  of  reaching  the  hearts, 
convincing  the  judgment,  and  persuading  the  will 
of  men,  which  others  have  not.    We  may  admit 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


that  this  method  has  sometimes  been  abused;  that 
too  much  emphasis  has  sometimes  been  placed  upon 
mere  numbers;  that  the  outward  has  sometimes  been 
stressed  at  the  expense  of  the  spiritual;  but  if  so,  these 
are  faults  of  the  evangelists,  and  not  of  the  evangel- 
ism which  our  representative  men,  including  our 
leading  evangelists,  would  approve.  The  pugilistic 
type  of  evangelism  which  was  more  or  less  justified 
as  a  method  of  self-defense  against  the  attacks  of  op- 
ponents in  the  past,  has  largely  given  way  to  more 
conciliatory  methods,  in  which  the  gospel  is  preached 
with  more  affirmative  power  and  plainness,  but  with 
less  counter-attacks  upon  others  who  see  it  different- 
ly. This  improvement  in  the  spirit  of  our  evangel- 
ism is  one  of  the  things  which  accounts  for  the  in- 
creasing numbers  that  are  being  won  by  our  evangel- 
ists. It  gains  a  wider  hearing  and  is  far  less  offensive 
to  intelligent  and  cultivated  people. 

When  all  has  been  said  that  can  justly  be  said  in 
the  way  of  criticism  against  some  methods  of  some 
evangelists,  it  remains  true  that  the  secret  of  the 
successful  evangelism  of  the  Disciples  is  to  be  found 
iu  their  reliance  upon  the  simple  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  power  of  God  to  produce  faith,  and  secure  sal- 
vation; their  emphasis  of  human  responsibility  in 
yielding  to  the  claims  of  this  gospel,  and  the  clear 
manner  in  which  they  are  able  to  point  out  how  the 
sinner,  who  is  seeking  salvation,  may  find  Christ, 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


who  is  seeking  the  sinner,  and  be  able  to  rejoice  in 
the  knowledge  of  remission  of  sins  through  a  hearty 
trust  in  Christ  manifested  in  compliance  with  his 
requirements. 

But  the  Disciples  have  never  depended  solely  upon 
special  evangelism  to  win  men  to  Christ.  Every 
preacher  and  every  pastor  is  an  evangelist,  and 
nearly  every  sermon  ends  with  a  pressing  personal 
invitation  to  those  present  who  have  never  yielded 
themselves  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  do  so  at  once,  so 
that  many  churches  have  conversions  every  Lord^s 
day,  and  often  even  at  prayer-meeting. 

If  anything  needs  to  be  added,  however,  to  the 
reasons  we  have  given  for  our  rapid  growth  in  num- 
bers,  it  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Reforma- 
tion urged  by  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  having  its  origin, 
as  well  as  its  chief  field  of  operations,  in  this  country, 
has  much  of  the  same  spirit  of  independence,  of  lib- 
erty, and  of  union  which  characterizes  the  American 
Republic.  The  movement  has  its  declaration  of  in- 
dependence from  human  authority  in  religion,  its 
plea  for  liberty  of  thought  and  freedom  of  action  with- 
in proper  limits,  its  independence  of  local  churches, 
together  with  the  union  of  all  such  churches  in  a 
common  body,  its  accentuation  of  the  individual 
rights  of  conscience,  and  exercise  of  private  judg- 
ment, its  plan  of  blending  liberty  and  loyalty  to 
gether  so  as  to  form  the  bond  of  union — all  of  which 

—176— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


have  their  counterparts  in  our  national  life.  This 
fact  makes  it  an  easy  matter  for  any  of  our  evangel- 
ists to  go  into  a  new  and  unoccupied  field,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  to  gather  the  people  together  who 
have  been  trainad  in  various  forms  of  religious  teach- 
ing, and  unite  them  together  in  a  common  church, 
on  a  common  basis  of  fellowship,  in  which  there  is 
unity  of  faith,  and  the  fullest  liberty  of  opinion  in  all 
matters  not  affecting  the  religious  life  and  character. 

These  considerations,  we  think,  sufficiently  account 
for  the  rapid  growth  of  the  movement  in  numbers, 
which  makes  it  now  rank  the  fifth  among  Protestant 
bodies  in  this  country. 


—177— 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Some  Personal  Factors  In  The  Movement. 


'•'And  what  shall  I  more  sar?  For  the 
time  will  fail  me  to  tell  of  all  our  Baraks, 
Samsons,  Jepthas,  Davids,  Samuels.  Debo- 
rahs, Sarahs.  Marvs,  Marthas,  Phoebes, 
Elizabeths,  who  through  faith  subdued  king- 
doms, wrought  righteousness,  obtained  prom- 
ises, stopped  the  mouthks  of  lions,  quenched 
the  power  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  from  weakness  were  made  strong, 
wa^ed  mightv  in  war,  turned  to  flight  ar- 
mies of  aliens.  .  .  .  Therefore,  let  us  also, 
seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great 
a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight 
and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us, 
and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that 
is  set  before  us.  looking  unto  Jesus,  the 
author  and  perfect-er  of  our  faith." — 
Adapted  from  Heb.  11:32-34;  12:1,  2. 


n. 

♦  1 

D.  Pat  Henderson. 
Robert  Graham. 
Moses  E.  Lard. 


L.  L.  Pinkerton. 
Robert  Millig-an. 
L.  B.  Wilkes. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Some  Personai.  Factors  in  the  Movement. 

Personality  is,  of  course,  the  vital  force  ia  the  car- 
rying out  of  any  great  enterprise.  We  have  already 
mentioned  some  of  the  chief  personal  factors  asso- 
ciated with  the  beginning  of  the  movement.  There 
is  neither  space,  nor  have  we  the  data  on  hand,  for 
any  adequate  treatment  of  the  leading  men  who  came 
after  the  first  leaders,  whose  character  and  labors  have 
done  so  much,  under  God,  to  shape  the  course  of  our 
religious  movement.  It  has  occurred  to  us,  however, 
that  even  such  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  reformation 
as  we  are  attempting  would  not  be  complete  with- 
out the  briefest  mention  of  some  of  the  men,  past 
and  present,  who  have  contributed,  some  in  one  way 
and  some  in  another,  to  the  success  of  the  work  we 
are  seeking  to  accomplish.  It  will  be  impossible,  of 
course,  to  mention  all  the  names,  even  of  the  dead, 
whose  work  might  well  entitle  them  to  favora- 
ble mention  in  a  larger  work.  Any  omissions  of 
names  which  may  occur  to  our  readers  can  be 
accounted  for  by  this  fact. 

In  both  the  second  and  third  generations  of 
—181— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


leaders,  there  occur  such  names  as  David  S.  Burnet, 
able  and  accomplished  preacher;  L.  L.  Pinkertoii, 
eloquent,  poetic,  pungent  in  pulpit  and  press; 
Benjamin  Franklin,  at  once  editor  and  evangelist, 
and  a  strong  preacher  of  first  principles;  Isaac 
Krrett,  equally  distinguished  both  as  editor  and 
preacher,  a  princely  man,  of  wide  vision,  of  cath- 
olic spirit,  and  of  superb  ability,  who,  by  pen  and 
voice,  helped  mightily  to  bring  the  movement 
through  one  of  the  great  crises  of  its  history;  O.  A. 
Burgess,  strong  in  the  pulpit,  resistless  in  logic,  vic- 
torious in  discussion  with  unbelief;  W.  K.  Pendle- 
ton, an  accomplished,  scholarly  teacher,  writer  and 
preacher,  who,  as  fellow-laborer  and  fellow-helper  of 
Alexander  Campbell,  both  in  Bethany  College  and 
in  The  Harbinger^  rendered  invaluable  service  to 
the  cause;  J.  S.  I/amar,  beautiful  in  character, 
graceful  as  a  writer,  and  strong  as  a  preacher; 
Alexander  Procter,  who,  with  a  philosophic  mind 
and  a  poetic  temperament  that  saw  truth  by  intui- 
tion, must  be  ranked  among  the  great  preachers  and 
fearless  thinkers  of  the  Reformation;  he  was  as  lova- 
ble in  character  as  he  was  great  in  intellect;  G.  W. 
lyongan,  largely  a  self-made  man,  who  achieved  a 
most  scholarly  style  as  a  writer,  and  who  was  also  a 
distinguished  preacher  and  thinker  in  his  day; 
George  Darsie,  an  almost  ideal  pastor  and  minister  of 
the  word,  who  cherished  a  deep  interest  in  all  the 

—182— 


Benjamin  Franklin. 
J.  C.  Reynolds. 
J.  S.  Lamar. 


Isaac  Errett. 
W.  K.  Pendleton. 
B.  W.  Johnson. 


The  Story  of  a  Cdxtury. 


enterprises  of  the  brotherhood,  and  gave  to  them  all 
the  weight  of  his  influence;  L.  B.  Wilkes,  strong  in 
argument,  mighty  in  word  and  doctrine,  and  a  stal- 
wart among  stalwarts;  John  S.  Sweeney,  able 
preacher  and  incomparable  debater  and  defender  of 
the  truth  against  its  assailants;  Dr.  W.  H.  Hopson, 
a  Christian  gentleman  and  a  peerless  pulpit  orator; 
Moses  E.  Lard,  a  gifted  preacher  and  writer,  un- 
excelled in  imagination  and  descriptive  power;  D. 
P.  Henderson,  whose  silvery  voice  and  magnetic 
personality  made  him  a  power  in  the  pulpit,  and  a 
man  among  men;  J.  C.  Reynolds,  who  as  preacher, 
college  professor  and  editor  was  ever  the  true  Chris- 
tian; Joseph  King,  whose  heart  burned  with  mis- 
sionary enthusiasm,  and  who  was  one  of  the  first  ad- 
vocates of  foreign  missionary  work;  Hugh  Mc- 
Diarmid,  able  assistant  of  Isaac  Krrett  in  his  ed- 
itorial work;  the  scholarly  W.  H.  Woolery,  and 
J.  M.  Trible,  both  of  whom,  as  preachers,  and  as 
teachers,  in  Bethany  College,  made  an  indelible  im- 
pression upon  those  with  whom  they  came  in  con- 
tact; A.  I.  Hobbs,  strong  in  pulpit  and  in  Bible 
Chair,  one  of  the  manliest  of  men;  A.  M. 
Atkinson,  preacher  and  business  man  in  one, 
and  founder  of  the  Ministerial  Relief  fund, 
to  which  he  gave  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  loving 
service;  Timothy  Coop,  of  England,  a  wealthy 
manufacturer  and  a  consecrated  Christian,  who  gave 

—183— 


The;  Story  of  a  Century. 


liberally  of  his  means  and  his  time  for  the  interests 
of  the  kingdom;  R.  M.  Bishop,  who  as  President  of 
the  American  Christian  Missionary  Society,  Governor 
of  Ohio,  and  a  liberal  supporter  of  all  our  missionary 
interests,  won  the  love  and  confidence  of  all  his  breth- 
ren; Ovid  Butler,  philanthropist  and  founder  of  But- 
ler College;  John  Darst,  if  not  the  father  of  Eureka 
College,  was  its  most  liberal  supporter  for  many 
years;  F.  M.  Drake,  General  in  our  Civil  War,  Gov- 
ernor of  Iowa,  founder  of  Drake  University,  and  lib- 
eral patron  of  every  good  work  among  us;  James  A. 
Garfield,  President  of  Hiram,  preacher,  statesman. 
General  in  the  United  States  army,  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  a  Christian  always.  Jeremiah  S. 
Black,  distinguished  jurist,  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States  and  an  ardent  defender  of  the  common 
faith;  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  one  of  the  early  presidents  of 
Hiram  College,  scholar,  teacher,  and  historian  of  his 
friend,  Garfield,  and  of  his  country;  Robert  Graham, 
scholarly  teacher,  college  president,  graceful  preacher 
and  an  ideal  Christian  gentleman;  Robert  Milligan, 
saintly  in  character,  scholarly  in  attainments,  who  as  a 
college  president  and  as  author  has  left  a  holy  impress 
on  the  movement;  B.  W.  Johnson,  able  preacher,  au- 
thor, editor  and  commentator;  H.  W.  Everest, 
preacher  of  fine  ability,  college  president  and  author. 

James  Challen,  consecrated  Christian  minister  and 
writer;  J.  M.  Mathes,  preacher  and  editor,  ever 

—184— 


R.  M.  Bishop. 
Jeremiah  S.  Black. 
Timothy  Coop. 


Francis  M.  Drake. 
James  A.  Garfield. 
A.M.  Atkinson. 


The;  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


loyal  to  the  truth  and  to  his  Master;  Elijah  Goodwin, 
a  minister  of  the  grace  of  God,  who  won  a  worthy 
name  among  the  brethren;  John  O^Kane,  a  pioneer 
preacher,  prominent  in  the  organization  of  our  first 
missionary  society,  and  in  the  establishment  of 
Northwestern  Christian  University,  now  Butler 
College;  Thomas  Munnell,  preacher  and  writer, 
excelling  in  the  latter,  but  whose  chief  claim  to  the 
loving  remembrance  of  his  brethren  is  his  long  and 
patient  service  as  Secretary  of  the  American  Chris- 
tian Missionary  Society;  Robert  Moffett,  strong 
preacher,  able  and  efficient  as  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, first  in  Ohio  then  of  the  A.  C.  M.  S.;  W.  W. 
and  A.  S.  Hayden,  who  by  song  and  sermon  did 
much  to  extend  the  Gospel.  George  Plattenburg, 
strong  in  the  pulpit,  scholarly  in  his  habits,  and  a 
fearless  advocate  of  the  Reformation.  But  time 
would  fail  me  to  tell  of  such  heroes  of  the  faith  as  John 
^'Raccoon'' Smith,  John  T.  Johnson,  T.  M.  Allen, 
John  A.  Gano,  Samuel  Rogers,  Jacob  Creath,  Sr.  and 
Junior,  Henry  Pitchard,  D.  R.  Lucas,  Jonas  Hartzell, 
N.  A.  McConnell,  Joel  Haden,  and  a  host  of  others 
whose  names  are  written  in  heaven. 

**These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  re- 
ceived*' the  fulfillment  of  their  desire  and  prayer 
for  the  unity  of  the  people  of  God,  but  having  seen 
and  greeted  it  from  afar. 

If  we  come  down  to  the  living  men  of  the  present 
— 185— 


The  Story  of  a  Cextury. 


time,  where  shall  the  line  be  drawn?  Perhaps  the 
mention  of  a  few  of  the  older  men,  who  have  at- 
tained their  three  score  years  and  ten,  or  there- 
abouts, and  whose  names  have  become  more  or  less 
conspicuous  because  of  their  ability  and  valuable  serv- 
ice to  the  cause,  will  not  be  regarded  as  discrim- 
inating among  brethren.  No  one  can  think  of  the 
history  of  our  cause  as  being  complete,  without  the 
mention  of  the  names  of  C.  L,.  Loos,  fellow-laborer 
with  Alexander  Campbell  at  Bethany,  and  later 
President  of  Kentucky  University,  and  who  only  re- 
cently, at  an  advanced  age,  has  been  relieved  of  his 
duties  as  Professor  in  the  same  institution,  has  ren- 
dered distinguished  service  as  teacher,  college  ad- 
ministrator, preacher  of  the  gospel  and  writer  for 
our  periodical  literature;  J.  W.  McGarvey,  President 
of  the  Bible  College  of  Kentucky,  now  Transylvania, 
University,  author  of  several  books,  editor,  writer 
and  preacher  of  the  gospel,  in  all  of  which  positions 
he  has  made  an  indelible  impression  upon  the  stu- 
dents he  has  taught  and  the  cause  he  has  loved  and 
served  with  such  distinguished  ability;  T.  P.  Haley, 
for  a  long  period  one  of  the  most  successful  pastors 
among  us,  whose  power  as  a  preacher  and  strength 
as  a  thinker,  seem  to  have  increased  with  his  age; 
A.  B.  Jones,  who,  though  practically  retired  for 
several  years,  except  for  an  occasional  article  in  our 
periodical  papers,  must  be  classed  as  one  of  the 

—186— 


G.  W.  Longan. 
Alexander  Procter. 
O.  A.  Burgess. 


Winthrop  H.  Hopson. 
A.  I.  Hobbs. 
H.  W.  Everest. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


strongest  preachers  and  thinkers  of  his  time;  J,  B. 
Briney,  who,  as  a  writer  and  minister,  is  reckoned 
rightly  among  the  strong  men  of  the  Reformation; 
W.  T.  Moore,  who  well  past  his  three  score  years 
and  ten,  is  still  strong  and  vigorous  after  more  than 
a  half  century  of  distinguished  service  as  minister, 
missionary  in  England,  editor  and  author;  D.  R. 
Dungan,  an  able  minister,  debater,  author  and  Bible 
teacher;  L.  L.  Carpenter,  who  has  dedicated  more 
churches  than  any  man  of  his  time,  and  whose  whole 
life  has  been  fruitful  in  good  works,  and  who  refuses 
to  be  shelved  because  of  his  age.  H.  S.  Karl,  grad- 
uate of  Bethany,  evangelist  in  Australia  and  Eng- 
land for  many  years,  where  he  won  many  to  Christ; 
Jc  W.  Monser,  preacher  and  writer  and  author  of  lit- 
erary merit;  F.  M.  Green,  preacher,  writer  and  cor- 
responding secretary  of  the  A.  C.  M.  S.,  and  faithful 
in  all;  Jabez  Hall,  scholarly  minister,  Bible  teacher 
and  trainer  of  young  men;  I.  Bo  Grubbs,  college  pro- 
fessor, Bible  teacher,  and  able  writer  and  preacher, 
whose  influence  has  helped  to  mould  many  young 
preachers;  O.  A.  Bartholomew,  faithful  preacher  and 
pastor  in  many  leading  churches,  now  lingering  in 
the  shadow  of  a  serious  affliction;  W.  W.  Dowling, 
veteran  Sunday  School  Editor  and  pioneer  in  Sun- 
day School  literature,  who  for  more  than  forty  years 
has  devoted  his  life  to  that  work.  Perhaps  v/e  ought 

to  mention  two  of  our  white-haired  young  men  who 

—187— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


liave  not  attained  the  age-limit  we  have  mentioned, 
but  whose  services  to  the  cause,  both  as  ministers 
and  authors,  have  been  valuable — F.  D.  Power  and 
B.  B.  Tyler. 

But  we  pause.  Our  space  is  exhausted,  and  there 
arises  before  us  a  list  of  worthy  names  of  men  still 
living,  who  have  rendered  conspicuous  service  to  the 
Reformation  we  plead,  and  whose  names  will  be  ad- 
equately mentioned  by  some  historian  of  the  future. 
We  believe  it  is  no  partisan  pride  that  leads  us  to 
the  conviction  that  no  religious  movement,  since  the 
apostolic  age,  has  developed,  within  the  same  length 
of  time,  so  large  a  number  of  men  of  unusual  power 
as  preachers  and  writers,  and  who  have  devoted  their 
talents  with  more  unselfish  service  to  the  cause  they 
love.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  a  great  cause  to  breed 
and  foster  great  men. 

Some  of  the  men  whose  names  I  have  mentioned 
would  be  called  conservative  in  their  views,  and 
others  liberal,  but  all  of  them,  we  believe,  were  and 
are  loyal  to  the  truth  as  they  have  been  able  to  see 
it,  and  are  equally  entitled  to  the  love  and  respect 
of  their  brethren.  It  is  through  the  action  and  in- 
teraction of  these  two  types  of  mind  that  truth  makes 
progress  in  the  world.  If  liberalism  is  essential  to 
progress,  conservatism  is  essential  to  insure  that 
progress  shall  be  safe  and  sane.  Both  these  ele- 
ments have  had,  and  will  have,  their  work  to  do  in 

—188— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  progress  of  this  Reformation,  and  we  must  come 
to  regard  them,  not  as  antagonistic  forces,  but  as  co- 
workers in  the  interest  of  truth. 

There  is  a  mighty  host  of  young  men  in  our  ranks 
to  whom  we  are  looking  in  hope  and  confidence  that 
they  will  prove  worthy  successors  of  the  great  men 
whose  names  we  have  mentioned.  That  God  may 
grant  them  an  abundance  of  His  grace  and  truth  for 
their  day  and  generation,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 
those  of  us  who  realize  that  the  days  of  our  active 
will  soon  be  over. 


—18^ 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

HiNDRENCKS  WITHOUT. 


"A  large  majority  of  Christendom  un- 
questionably hold  to  some  form  of  Bap- 
tismal Eegeneration.  .  .  .  And  yet  it  is  not 
very  difficult  to  see  how  this  heresy  had 
its  origin.  Whoever  has  read  carefully  the 
Kew  Testament,  with  the  view  of  studying 
the  relation  between  baptism  and  the  sin- 
ner, will  scarcely  have  failed  to  notice  how 
intimate  this  relation  is.  .  .  .  By  losing  sight 
of  the  proper  antecedents  of  baptism,  viz. : 
faith  and  repentance,  and  by  fixing  atten- 
tion mainly  upon  the  ordinances  which  mark 
the  consummation  of  the  sinner's  return  to 
God,  it  was  not  a  dif&cult  thing  to  reach  the 
conclusion  that  baptism  itself,  ex  opere 
operato,  effected  a  change  of  heart,  or  a 
change  from  the  love  of  sin  to  the  love 
of  holiness;  or,  in  other  words,  produced 
"what  is  now  regarded  by  evangelicals  as 
Eegeneration;  and  furthermore,  it  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  that  there  is  ample  rea- 
son for  regarding  what  was  evolved  in  this 
great  transformation  as  a  most  pernicious 
evil."— ''The  Fundamental  Error  of  Chris- 
tendom,by  W.  T.  Moore,  LL.  D. 


—192— 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


Hindrances  Without. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  we  undertook  to  answer 
the  question  which  has  been  raised  from  without  as 
to  the  causes  which  have  contributed  most  to  the 
rapid  numerical  increase  of  the  Reformation  urged 
by  the  Disciples.  Not  less  interesting,  and  perhaps 
more  profitable  for  us  to  consider,  is  the  question 
which  we  may  well  raise  among  ourselves — Why  has 
not  the  movement  achieved  greater  success,  both  in 
numbers  and  in  influence,  than  it  has  within  the  cen- 
tury which  has  elapsed  since  its  inauguration?  No 
one,  we  believe,  can  study  thoughtfully  the  princi- 
ples and  objects  of  this  Reformation  and  their  adap- 
tation to  the  needs  of  the  world,  without  feeling  some 
explanation  is  due  as  to  why  such  a  plea  has  not  by 
this  time  become  thoroughly  known,  at  least  to  the 
Christian  world,  and  has  not  achieved  even  greater 
results  in  bringing  about  the  union  of  God's  people. 
To  answer  this  question  may  be  a  less  gracious  task 
than  the  answer  to  the  preceding  question,  but  it  is 
certainly  not  less  important  to  the  future  success  of 
the  movement. 

(13)  —193— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


These  hindrances  may  be  classified  as  those  with- 
out, and  those  within.  We  may  treat  some  of  the 
former  class  of  hindrances  under  the  title  of  hin- 
drances without 

I.  EAPTISMAI.  REGENERATION. 

Every  reformation  in  the  history  of  the  world  has 
had  to  battle  with  misconceptions  as  one  of  the  chief 
obstacles  to  its  progress.  Ours  has  been  no  excep- 
tion to  that  rule.  One  of  the  most  persistent,  as  it  is 
one  of  the  most  false,  misconceptions  of  our  position, 
is  that  we  believe  in  baptismal  regeneration.  True, 
people  who  are  ordinarily  intelligent  in  religious  mat- 
ters in  this  country,  and  who  are  not  blinded  by 
partisan  feeling,  know  the  falsity  of  such  an  accusa- 
tion. But  there  are  enough  people,  unfortunately,  who 
are  willing  to  believe  anything  that  is  injurious  con- 
cerning another  religious  body,  to  keep  alive  a  mis- 
representation that  would  otherwise  have  died  a  natu- 
ral death  long  ago. 

It  is  sad  to  learn,  too,  that  this  false  idea  has  been 
transported,  along  with  other  errors,  into  the  foreign 
field.  We  are  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  Frank  Gar- 
rett, of  Nanking,  China,  under  date  of  March  25,  in 
which  he  says: 

I  find  that  we  are,  as  a  people,  much  misunderstood  in  China 
and  elsewhere.  I  have  been  surprised  to  find  recently  the  extent 
of  this  popular  misunderstanding.    I  have  the  privilege  of  com- 

—194— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


ing  into  contact  with  many  leading  men  here  from  other  missions. 
I  find  it  a  never-ending  pleasure  to  present  our  position,  and  it  is 
well  accepted  as  a  rule.  But  the  open  acknowledgment  of  what 
others  say  they  have  understood  us  to  stand  for  is  a  cause  of  con- 
stant surprise.  The  statement  which  I  enclose,  clipped  from  the 
Year  Book  of  the  Baptists  in  Germany,  shows  what  they  think  of 
us.  I  am  hearing  'baptismal  regeneration'  everywhere  I  go.  Of 
course,  I  disclaim  any  such  teaching  on  the  part  of  our  people. 
But  I  too  often  get  the  reply  that  I  do  not  understand  what  many 
of  our  preachers  are  teaching  in  America. 

The  statement  from  the  Baptist  Year  Book,  which 
Mr.  Garrett  enclosed,  is  the  following: 

In  these  numbers  the  Disciples  of  Christ  in  America  are  not 
counted.  They  practice  immersion  as  we,  but  they  teach  that 
baptism  is  necessary  for  salvation,  a  doctrine  which  the  Amer- 
ican Baptists,  of  course,  reject. 

The  word  **necessary'*  is,  of  course,  used  here  iu 
the  sense  of  essential;  that  is  to  say,  there  can  be  no 
salvation  without  baptism — a  position  which  the  Dis- 
ciples, equally  with  the  Baptists,  reject,  for  none  of 
us  doubts  the  salvation  of  infants,  nor  of  believers  in 
Christ  who  have  had  no  opportunity  of  obeying  Him 
in  baptism.  On  the  other  hand,  neither  Baptists  nor 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  will  affirm  the  salvation  of 
any  man  who,  knowing  baptism  to  be  a  command  of 
Christ,  and  having  opportunity  to  obey  it,  refuses  to 
yield  obedience.  There  is  no  doubt  a  difference  in 
emphasis  between  the  Baptists  and  Disciples  on  bap- 
tism in  its  relation  to  discipleship,  and  the  assurance 
of  forgiveness.  The  Disciples  do  emphasize  the  value 

—195— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  Christian  baptism  as  a  divine  ordiuance,  appointed 
by  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  penitent  believers  may  for- 
mally and  publicly  surrender  themselves  to  the 
leadership  of  Christ,  and  enter  into  his  church,  where 
they  may  claim  all  the  benefits  and  blessings  which  be- 
long to  the  members  of  that  body.  This,  as  every  intel- 
ligent person  knows,  is  directly  antipodal  to  the  doc- 
trine of  baptismal  regeneration,  which  teaches  that 
this  ordinance  is  the  channel  of  grace  by  which  re- 
generation, in  the  sense  of  the  impartation  of  new 
life,  is  alone  received.  There  are  even  some  Protes- 
tant Christians  who  hold  to  that  view  of  baptism,  but 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  have  always,  through  their 
representative  preachers  and  teachers,  rejected  it. 
One  of  the  most  generally  approved  works  among  us  is 
that  by  Dr.  W.  T.  Moore,  on  "The  Fundamental 
Error  of  Christendom,"  which  is  devoted  to  the  over- 
throw of  baptismal  regeneration. 

In  some  of  Mr.  Campbell's  writings  he  used  the 
word  regeneration  in  the  patristic  sense,  as  synony- 
mous with  baptism,  since  baptism  was,  in  their  con- 
ception the  completion  or  formal  consummation  of  the 
new  birth.  It  was,  in  our  judgment,  an  unfortunate 
use  of  the  v^'ord,  but  Mr.  Campbell  never,  for  a  mo- 
ment, conceived  of  baptism  as  the  means  of  tjnpart- 
ing  the  new  life.  It  was  the  formal  bringing  of  one 
who  had  been  spiritually  quickened  through  faith, 
into  a  new  state  or  set  of  relations. 

—196— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


While  some  men  among  us  have  made  extreme 
statements,  no  doubt,  on  the  relation  of  baptism  to 
salvation,  there  is  not  one  of  them  that  would  not 
distinctly  repudiate  the  doctrine  of  baptismal  regen- 
eration. So  far  as  we  know,  it  has  not  a  single 
advocate,  and  never  has  had  in  our  whole  history. 
The  time  has  come,  however,  when  we  can  not  be 
too  guarded  in  our  statements,  so  as  to  avoid  this 
false  imputation.  Our  praiseworthy  effort  to  lift  the 
ordinance  of  baptism  out  of  the  disrepute  and  neglect 
into  which  it  had  fallen,  and  give  it  the  place  which 
it  held  in  New  Testament  evangelism,  has  subjected 
us  to  the  misrepresentation  referred  to,  but  we  can 
guard  the  sacredness  and  significance  of  the  institu- 
tion without  giving  any  justification  for  the  suspicion 
of  teaching  baptismal  regeneration.  We  could  not 
hold  consistently,  as  we  do,  that  baptism  is  the  sym- 
bolic representation  of  the  sinner's  death  to  sin,  and 
his  resurrection  to  newness  of  life,  if  we  did  not  also 
hold,  and  teach,  that  a  change  of  heart  had  previous- 
ly taken  place,  through  faith  and  repentance,  thus 
making  possible  the  living  of  the  new  life  which 
baptism  symbolizes. 

We  can  not  do  better  service  to  our  Cause  than  to 
make  it  plain  to  all  who  wish  to  know  the  truth, 
that  we  have  no  sympathy  with  any  theory  that  gives 
any  magical  charm  to  baptism,  in  itself  considered,  or 
that  holds  it  to  be  an  indispensable  prerequisite,  in 

— 197-. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


every  case,  to  the  reception  of  forgiveness  and  salva- 
tion; and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  we  do  not  stand 
with  those  who  would  dishonor  a  divine  institution 
by  teaching  men  that  it  is  purely  optional  with  them 
whether  they  submit  to  it  or  not.  Between  these  two 
extremes  the  Disciples  of  Christ  claim  to  stand  on 
solid  New  Testament  ground. 

II.  EXCLUSIVENESS. 

The  impression  has  gained  more  or  less  prevalence 
that  the  people  known  as  Disciples  of  Christ,  or 
Christians,  and  whose  churches  are  designated  as 
Churches  of  Christ,  or  Christian  Churches,  are  exclu- 
sive in  their  claims  and  pretensions;  that  they  set 
forth  the  claim  that  they  are  the  only  Christians,  and 
that  their  churches  are  the  only  churches  of  Christ. 
Of  course,  no  student  of  the  movement  could  arrive 
at  such  a  conclusion,  but  popular  impressions  are 
seldom  based  on  a  careful  study  of  history  or  of  facts. 
The  men  who  inaugurated  this  movement  would  have 
been  the  last  men  in  the  world  to  have  made  such  ex- 
clusive claims.  Theirs  was  an  effort  to  restore  the 
church  to  its  original  unity  on  its  original  basis  of 
fellowship.  This  very  aim  excludes  the  idea  of  ex- 
clusiveness.  It  has  been,  and  is,  an  inclusive  rather 
than  exclusive  movement. 

The  superficial  ground  for  the  impression  referred 
to  above  is  the  use  of  the  scriptural  names  for  indivi- 

—198— 


The  Story  of  a  Ce^^tury. 


dual  Christians  and  for  individual  churches  rather 
than  party  or  denominational  names.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  this  movement  it  was  held  to  be  a  thing 
without  authority,  as  it  was  without  precedent  since 
apostolic  days,  for  any  persons  to  claim  to  be  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  Christ  without  attaching  them- 
selves to  some  one  of  the  existing  denominations. 
That  any  number  of  people  could  decline,  on  scrip- 
tural grounds,  to  wear  any  denominational  name,  or 
to  subscribe  to  any  denominational  creed,  and  yet  be 
evangelical  Christians,  and  be  organized  into  church- 
es of  Christ,  was  supposed  to  be  an  impossible  thing, 
and  those  who  assumed  such  right  were  regarded  as 
trespassers  on  the  rights  of  denominationalisml 
People  never  stopped  to  think  that  any  other  policy 
by  a  people  claiming  to  present  a  basis  for  Christian 
union,  would  have  been  absurd.  Suppose,  for  in- 
stance, the  advocates  of  this  movement  had  chosen  to 
designate  themselves  as  ''Campbellites,"  or  *'Camp- 
bellians,"  repeating  the  folly  of  those  in  the  Corinth- 
ian church,  v/ho  said,  **I  am  of  Paul,"  or  am  of 
Apollos, '  ^  or  * *I  am  of  Cephas. "  Is  it  likely  that  men 
would  have  been  easily  persuaded  to  accept  the  name 
of  Mr.  Campbell  rather  than  that  of  lyUther,  or  Wes- 
ley, or  Calvin,  or  any  other  party  name?  And  yet 
tens  of  thousands  have  been  willing  to  surrender  their 
party  names  for  the  *  *  name  that  is  above  every  name, '  * 
and  which  has  the  advantage  of  defining  at  once  their 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


faith  and  their  religion.  No  one  but  an  ignoramus 
could  suppose  that  these  men  claimed  to  be  the  only 
Christians,  or  else  their  plea  for  Christian  union 
would  have  been  absurd.  They  simply  aimed  to  do, 
themselves,  what  they  believed  others  must  do  in 
order  to  realize  Christ's  prayer  for  unity. 

The  same  principle  applies  in  reference  to  the  re- 
jection of  human  creeds.  It  was  evident  that  no 
union  of  all  Christians  could  ever  be  based  on  any 
existing  human  creed.  Some  broader  basis,  there- 
fore, must  be  found,  on  which  to  plead  for  unity. 
This  was  found  in  the  old  creed  of  Simon  Peter,  on 
which  Jesus  said  he  v/ould  build  His  church — the 
Christhood  and  divine  Sonship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
— with  the  inspired  Scriptures,  and  especially  the 
New  Testament,  as  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
The  aim  here  again  was  to  get  on  ground  broad 
enoueh  to  include  all  Christians.  This  is  no  char- 
acteristic  of  exclusivism,  but  rather  of  catholicity. 
Those  who  claim  a  monopoly  of  apostolic  grace  and 
authority  by  virtue  of  some  theory  of  tactual  suc- 
cession, are  justly  subject  to  the  charge  of  exclusive- 
ness,  but  not  those  who  put  themselves  on  the  broad 
basis  of  the  New  Testament  and  invite  others  to  meet 
them  there. 

We  will  not  deny  that  there  have  been  occasional 
outcroppings  of  an  exclusive  spirit,  here  and  there, 
in  our  history,  by  men  who  have  been  lacking  in 

—200— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


breadth  of  vision,  aud  in  a  proper  appreciation  of 
the  catholic  aim  and  spirit  of  our  movement.  It  is 
denied,  however,  that  the  principles  of  the  move- 
ment lend  any  support  or  sympathy  to  such  a  spirit. 
That  there  s»hould  have  been  opposition,  on  the  part 
of  a  few  of  our  papers  and  people  to  certain  forms 
of  co-operation  with  other  Christian  bodies,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  regret,  as  it  has  given  the  semblance  of  truth- 
fulness to  the  charge  of  exclusiveness.  It  is  only 
justice,  however,  to  say  that  so  far  as  the  people 
themselves  are  concerned  this  opposition  has  resulted 
from  misinformation,  zealously  inculcated,  as  to  what 
is  involved  in  such  co-operation.  With  a  proper 
understanding  of  the  subject  all  opposition  of  this 
kind  is  rapidly  disappearing.  Our  position  com- 
mits us  irrevocably  to  the  widest  catholicity  of  spirit 
consistent  with  loyalty  to  Christ,  and  to  all  such  co- 
operation as  looks  to  the  more  rapid  advancement  of 
His  kingdom. 


—20]  — 


CHAPTER  XX. 
Hindrances  Without. — (  Continued, ) 


I  would  not,  sir,  value  at  the  price  of  a 
single  mill  the  religion  of  any  man,  as  re- 
spects the  grand  affair  of  eternal  life, 
whose  religion  is  not  begun,  carried  on  and 
completed  by  the  personal  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Nay,  sir,  I  esteem  it  the  pe- 
culiar excellence  and  glory  of  our  relig- 
ion, that  it  is  spiritual. 

— Alexander  Campbell. 
▼  ▼  ▼ 

While,  then,  I  repudiate,  with  all  my 
heart,  the  scholastic  jargon  of  the  Arian, 
Unitarian  and  Trinitarian  hypotheses,  I 
stand  up  before  heaven  and  earth  in  de- 
fense of  the  sacred  style — in  the  fair,  full 
and  perfect  comprehension  of  all  its  words 
and  sentences,  according  to  the  canons  of 
a  sound  exegetical  interpretation. 

^-Alexander  Campbell. 


—204— 


CHAPTER  XX. 


Hindrances  Without. — (  Continued. ) 

III.        mere  head  faith." 

One  of  the  standing  charges  against  the  reformers, 
particularly  in  the  early  history  of  the  movement, 
was  that  the  faith  which  they  required  in  order  to 
baptism,  was  *'a  mere  head  faith;"  an  intellectual 
conception  not  involving  the  affections  of  the  heart. 
This  probably  grew  out  of  the  efforts  of  the  reform- 
ers to  clear  away  some  of  the  mystification  which 
had  accumulated  about  the  subject  of  faith.  The 
advocates  of  this  reformation  have  always  held  that 
reason  has  its  legitimate  place  in  religion,  and  that 
it  is  not  an  absent  factor  in  the  matter  of  faith;  that 
God  does  not  require  man,  whom  He  has  endowed  with 
reason,  to  believe  any  proposition  that  is  contrary  to 
reason;  that  faith  in  Christ,  just  like  belief  or  con- 
fidence in  any  other  man,  or  in  any  proposition,  is  a 
matter  of  evidence.  This  was  far  from  saying  that 
faith  does  not  involve  the  heart,  for  the  very  nature 
of  Christian  faith  is  such  that  it  does  involve  man's 
whole  spiritual  nature — his  intellect,  his  reason,  his 
affections,  his  sensibilities,  his  will. 


The:  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


It  is  easy  to  see,  however,  how  this  new  view  of 
faith  would  be  regarded  as  making  faith  a  matter 
wholly  of  intellect.  The  prevailing  idea  was  that 
no  man  could  believe,  in  the  religious  sense  of  the 
word,  until  he  was  regenerated  by  the  direct  action 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Faith,  instead  of  being  the 
means  by  which  the  regenerative  power  of  the 
gospel  is  conveyed  to  the  mind  and  heart,  was 
regarded  as  the  act  of  the  soul  after  its  regeneration. 
This  view  grew  out  of  the  doctrine  of  total  hereditary 
depravity,  which,  as  then  held,  regarded  man  as 
wholly  unable  to  think  a  good  thought,  or  to 
perform  a  good  deed,  or  to  do  anything  toward  his 
own  salvation.  In  that  matter  he  was  wholly 
passive.  This  view  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  past 
and  present,  have  antagonized,  as  contrary  to  the 
teaching  of  Christ  and  of  his  apostles,  and  as  whol- 
ly injurious  to  the  cause  of  Christianity.  Human 
responsibility  has  always  been  accentuated  in  their 
teaching.  The  Gospel  addresses  itself  to  men  as  if 
they  were  capable  of  believing  it,  receiving  it,  and 
obeying  it,  and  thereby  enjoying  it,  and  the  respon- 
sibility for  not  doing  so  must  not  be  laid  upon  God 
for  withholding  the  enabling  act  of  his  omnipotence, 
but  upon  man  who  refuses  to  accept  the  divine  tes- 
timony, and  to  yield  obedience  to  the  divine  re- 
quirements. 

A  counterchange  of  intellectualism  might  wel^ 
—206— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


have  been  made  by  the  Disciples  against  their 
opponents  who  made  the  acceptance  of  human 
formulations  of  doctrine  a  test  of  fellowship,  rather 
than  a  personal  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Ev- 
ery one  now  understands  that  the  faith  which  saves 
and  on  which  justification  is  predicated  is  not  an  in- 
tellectual assent  to  certain  theological  propositions, 
but  the  faith  of  the  heart  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which  leads  to  a  personal  surrender  to  him  and  to 
newness  of  life.  Every  person  who  is  baptized  by 
the  Disciples  is  required  to  confess  that  he  believes 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  his  whole  heart.'' 
This  is  in  harmony  with  Paul's  statement,  that 
''with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteousness, 
and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salva- 
tion." It  is  a  little  strange  that  the  only  people 
who  have  required  this  kind  of  confession  in  order  to 
baptism,  should  be  charged  with  holding  to  a  **mere 
head  faith." 

In  addition  to  what  has  been  stated  above,  it  may 
be  added  that  another  reason  why  this  conception 
prevailed,  was  that  emotionalism  held  so  large  a 
place  in  the  religious  experiences  of  those  days. 
Instead  of  the  scriptural  confession  of  the  faith  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  as  a  condition  of  baptism,  the  can- 
didate of  those  times  was  expected  to  relate  some 
marvelous  psychological  experience  through  which 
he  had  passed,  frequently,  if  not  always,  including 

—207— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  hearing  of  miraculous  voices  or  the  seeing  of 
miraculous  sights.  Some  would  tell  of  being  lifted 
instantaneously  from  the  depths  of  despair  to  the 
heights  of  holiest  joy.  One  need  not  call  in  ques- 
tion the  reality  of  these  experiences  to  those  who  re- 
lated them,  but  to  disregard  them  as  necessary 
evidence  of  conversion  or  of  preparation  for  baptism, 
was  to  antagonize  the  popular  view,  and  thereby  to 
incur  the  charge  of  intellectualism.  We  are  coming 
to  understand  far  more  clearly  than  was  understood 
a  century  ago,  that  all  men  do  not  pass  through,  and 
do  not  need  to  pass  through,  the  same  mental  and 
psychical  process  in  their  conversion,  and  that  it  is 
not  the  process  or  method  about  which  the  Church 
should  be  concerned,  but  the  end  reached,  namely: 
a  condition  where  the  believing  and  loving  heart 
desires  to  accept  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  to  seek,  with 
his  aid,  to  live  the  Christian  life.  The  faith  that 
moves  to  this  desire  and  action  is  the  evangelical 
faith  of  the  New  Testament. 

To  this  position  the  Disciples  have  always  held, 
and  they  hold  it  to-day.  That  is  one  reason  why 
they  discard  human  creeds  as  tests  of  fellowship,  and 
adhere  to  the  old-time  confession  of  faith  on  which 
Jesus  said  he  would  build  his  Church. 

IV.     COXCERXIXG  JUSTIFICATIOX  BY  FAITH. 

It  is  supposed  by  many  good  people  that  the 
— 20S— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


position  of  the  Disciples  on  the  subject  of  baptism 
in  its  relation  to  remission  of  sins  is  out  of  harmony 
with  the  New  Testament  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  as  emphasized  by  lyUther  in  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  If  these  same  good  people, 
however,  can  harmonize  Paul  and  Peter  in  Romans 
5:1  and  Acts  2:38,  not  to  mention  other  passages, 
they  ought  to  have  no  difficulty  in  harmonizing  our 
teaching  on  the  subject  of  baptism  with  the  Pauline 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  for  the  Disciples 
have  no  doctrine  of  their  own  on  that  subject,  but 
simply  aim  to  repeat  the  teaching  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. 

What  is  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  as 
taught  by  Paul  in  the  first  century,  and  re-empha- 
sized by  Luther  in  the  sixteenth  century?  In  Paul's 
teaching,  especially  in  the  Roman  and  Galatian  let- 
ters, this  doctrine  stands  over  against  Jewish  legal- 
ism, or  the  idea  of  justification  by  works  of  the  law. 
Paul  seems  to  have  sought  justification  by  this 
method  himself,  first,  and  found  it  to  be  a  failure. 
He  clearly  teaches,  in  opposition  to  this  view,  that 
salvation  is  by  grace,  and  not  by  law,  for  *'by  the 
deeds  of  the  law  no  man  can  be  justified.'*  It 
would  require  perfect  obedience  to  be  justified  by 
law,  but  since  all  have  sinned  it  follows  that  no  one 
can  be  justified  by  law.  Justification  by  faith,  then, 
in  Paul's  view,  was  justification  through  Christ,  in 

(14)  —209— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


whom  alone  we  have  redemption,  even  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins.  The  faith  which  justifies,  accord- 
ing to  Paul,  is  a  living  faith  that  commits  the  soul 
to  Christ,  for,  after  all,  it  is  Christ  that  justifies  and 
saves  through  faith,  and  it  is  only  the  faith  that 
lays  hold  on  him  and  biings  the  soul  in  right  re- 
lations to  him  that  can  justify  or  save. 

Luther's  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  though 
he  was  tempted  to  carry  it  to  an  extreme,  was  set 
over  against  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  works 
of  merit.  The  view  that  the  soul  could  accumulate, 
by  works  of  supererogation,  an  extra  supply  of 
merit  that  could  be  applied  to  cover  one's  own  short- 
comings, or  those  of  another,  was  denounced  by 
Luther  as  in  violation  of  Paul's  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith.  Any  doctrine  that  makes  salvation 
anything  less  than  a  matter  of  unmerited  favor  on 
the  part  of  God,  is  at  war  with  the  New  Testament 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace,  through  faith. 

In  what  way  does  this  doctrine  contradict  the 
position  that  it  is  a  penitent  and  obedient  faith  that 
saves,  and  not  a  mere  intellectual  assent,  or  an  emo- 
tion of  the  heart,  disconnected  with  the  soul's  posi- 
tive acceptance  of  Christ?  If  we  separate  faith,  re- 
pentance and  baptism,  as  three  separate  and  distinct 
acts,  and  think  of  repentance  and  baptism  as  some- 
thing quite  independent  of  faith,  we  do  not  think  in 
New  Testament  terms.    Both  repentance  and  bap- 

—210— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


tism  are  expressions  of  the  soul's  faith,  and  neither 
of  them  is  possible  in  the  New  Testament  sense 
without  faith.    True,  there  is  a  phase  of  repentance 
which  precedes  and  prepares  the  way  for  a  genuine 
faith,  but  there  is  a  still  deeper  phase  of  repentance 
that  springs  from  faith  in  Christ,  and  which  leads  to 
a  changed  life.    Baptism  is  the  divinely  ordained 
means  by  which  the  believing,  penitent  soul  casts 
itself  on  the  mercy  of  God,  seeking  salvation  by 
grace.    In  other  words,  it  is  faith ^  appropriating 
salvation  by  grace,  and  not  baptism  meriting  salva- 
tion by  deeds  of  the  law. 

Dr.  James  Denney,  in  his  **Jesus  and  the  Gos- 
pel," speaks  of  baptism  as  the  act  of  men  "when  in 
penitent  faith  they  cast  themselves  upon  the  Son  of 
God  uplifted  on  the  cross.  .  .  .In  other  words,  when 
they  commit  themselves  to  the  love  which,  in  the 
Lamb  of  God,  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  by 
becoming  a  propitation  for  it.*'  (P.  88.)  It  empha- 
sizes the  need  of  a  thorough  preparation  of  those 
who  come  to  baptism,  lest  they  come  with  the 
false  view  that  there  is  any  merit  in  the  act  itself, 
or  any  magical  power  in  it,  or  any  other  view,  ex- 
cept that  in  this  solemn  act  of  faith  they  are  con- 
secrating themselves  to  the  service  of  Christ,  and 
claiming  his  promise  of  forgiveness  and  peace. 
Such  a  view  of  baptism  is  wholly  consistent  with 
Paul's  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
Hindrances  Wi'tiiom,— -{Continued,) 


''This,  it  would  seem,  is  Christianity  re- 
duced to  its  least  common  denominator.  In 
other  words,  it  is  the  'irreducible  minimum* 
withiout  which  you  can  njot  have  a  church, 
or  Christianity  in  any  visible  or  practicable 
form.  On  this  foundation  of  faith  in  Christ, 
and  of  loyal  obedience  to  him,  has  been 
built  the  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  on 
that  foundation  it  rests  to-day.  There  are 
a  thousand  things  which  may  enter  into 
the  enrichment  of  Christian  life  when  we 
have  once  built  upon  this  foundation,  but 
these  things  are  not  to  be  added  to  the 
foundation  and  made  a  part  of  the  condi- 
tions of  entrance  upon  the  Christian  life." 
— Christian  Union:  A  Historical  Study,** 
▼  ▼  ▼ 

' '  If  the  Divine  word  be  not  the  stand 
ard  of  a  party,  then  are  we  not  a  party, 
for  we  have  adopted  no  other.  If  to  main- 
tain its  alone-sufficiency  be  not  a  party 
principle,  then  we  are  not  a  party.  If  to 
justify  this  principle  by  our  practice  .in 
making  a  rule  of  it,  and  of  it  alone,  and 
not  of  our  own  opinions,  nor  of  those  of 
others,  be  not  a  party  principle,  then  we 
are  not  a  party.  If  to  propose  and  prac- 
tice neither  more  nor  less  than  it  expressly 
reveals  and  enjoins  be  not  a  partial  busi- 
ness, then  we  are  not  a  party.  These  are 
the  very  sentiments  we  have  approved  and 
recommended,  as  a  Society  formed  for  the 
express  purpose  of  promoting  Christian 
unity  in  opposition  to  a  party  spirit." — 
*' Declaration  and  Address,"  by  Thomas 
Campbell. 


—214— 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


Hindrances  Without. — (  Continued. ) 

V.  CONCERNING  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

As  Christian  union  has  been  an  important  item  in 
the  contention  of  the  Disciples  from  the  beginning, 
it  has  been  an  occasion  of  stumbling  to  many, 
whose  objections  to  it  indicate  the  nature  of  the 
misconceptions  as  to  what  it  is. 

I.  ''''Yoit  can  not  77iake  everybody  tJiink  alike,^^ 
This  has  been  a  standing  objection  of  many  who 
have  supposed  that  Christian  union  means  uniform- 
ity of  thought.  The  proposition  is  self-evidently 
true,  but  it  does  not  bear  against  Christian  union. 
The  variety  in  nature  is  often  referred  to  as  illustra- 
ting the  truth  that  God  likes  variety  better  than 
sameness.  True  again,  but  entirely  without  force  as 
an  objection  to  Christian  union.  Indeed,  it  is  an 
argument  in  favor  of  such  unity,  for  if  the  unity  of 
nature  is  not  disturbed,  but  manifested  by  its  varie- 
ty, why  should  it  be  thought  incredible  that  the 
church  can  be  one  with  variety  of  opinions  and  meth- 
ods among  its  members. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


Sects  have  been  formed  and  justified  on  tlie  prin- 
ciple that  those  within  the  same  fellowship  must 
think  alike  on  all  theological  and  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions. Then  when  these  divisions  are  formed  in  the 
church,  the  union  of  Christians  is  opposed  on  the 
ground  that  variety  is  the  very  spice  of  life,  and  that 
even  nature  teaches  us  how  unity  is  consistent  with 
the  greatest  variety!  Very  true;  but  why,  then, 
was  the  unity  of  the  Church  broken,  its  bonds  of  fel- 
lowship severed,  because  of  these  differences  of  opin- 
ion? In  other  words,  why  should  not  the  principle 
of  unity  in  variety  be  applied  against  creating  divis- 
ions rather  than  against  healing  such  divisions? 

Intelligent  Christians  now  have  generally  come  to 
see  that  the  unity  for  which  Jesus  prayed  is  not 
unity  of  opinions  or  of  methods,  but  of  faith  and 
spirit.  To  believe  in  the  one  I^ord,  and  to  make 
obedience  to  him  the  only  test  of  fellowship,  is  con- 
sistent with  the  largest  liberty  of  opinions  in  all  mat- 
ters not  affecting  one's  faith  and  character,  and  in 
all  methods  of  work  not  antagonistic  to  the  moral 
principles  of  the  gospel.  No  one  who  has  the  mind 
of  Christ  on  this  subject  ever  expects  or  desires  to  see 
any  ecclesiastical  organization  that  would  require 
uniformity  of  opinion  as  a  condition  of  fellowship. 

2 .  "/  am  opposed  to  uniting  all  Christians  in  one 
great  ecclesiastical  organization^  like  the  Roman 
Catholic  Churchy  with  the  religious  despotism  which 

—216— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


it  would  be  sure  to  exercise  over  the  local  congregation 
or  the  individual  Christian y 

Many  a  man  has  uttered  this  statement  under  the 
supposition  that  he  was  opposing  the  kind  of  union 
v/e  are  advocating.  But  of  all  people  in  the  world 
the  Disciples  are  least  inclined  to  put  themselves  in 
ecclesiastical  bondage.  No,  the  union  they  favor  is 
a  union  of  free,  independent,  co-operating  local 
churches,  having  "one  Lord,  one  faith  and  one  bap- 
tism," and  working  together  to  advance  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Whatever  organization  other  than  the 
local  self-governing  church  may  exist,  must  be  pure- 
ly voluntary,  and  exercise  no  authority  whatever 
over  such  local  churches.  Their  recommendations 
must  be  only  advisory,  not  compulsory,  beyond  the 
compulsion  of  reason  and  fraternity. 

To  what  extent,  it  may  be  asked,  will  this  sort  of 
unity  permit  such  organizations  as  the  present  existing 
denominations  for  carrying  on  Christian  work  ?  Only 
so  far  as  such  organizations  do  not  interfere  with  the 
fellowship  and  unity  of  the  body  of  Christ,  nor  with 
that  free  co-operation  in  the  work  of  Christ  to  which 
his  prayer  for  unity  looks.  This,  it  seems  to  us,  in- 
volves the  practical  reconstruction  of  Protestanism, 
but  such  changes  will  come  gradually,  by  the  action 
of  the  various  bodies  themselves,  as  they  come  into 
fuller  union  with  Christ,  and  are  more  and  more  im- 

—217— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


bued  with  his  spirit  of  humility,  and  his  passion  for 
the  salvation  of  men. 

We  need  not  concern  ourselves  unduly  as  to  what 
form  Christian  union  will  ultimately  take.  We  may 
leave  that  to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  decide 
what  form  His  body  is  to  have,  while  we  concern 
ourselves  chiefly  with  following  His  word  and 
Spirit. 

3.  You  want  everybody  to  come  to  you.'' On 
the  contrary,  we  neither  want  nor  expect  everybody 
to  come  to  us.  If  we  were  already  perfect,  both  in 
knowledge  and  practice,  we  would  not  invite  every- 
body to  come'to  us.  But,  like  Paul,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  say:  *'We  are  not  perfect;  we  have  not  yet 
apprehended  that  for  which  we  have  been  apprehend- 
ed by  Christ  Jesus.'*  What  we  do  wish  concerning 
all  our  brethren  of  every  name  and  creed  is  that  they 
and  we  may  get  into  closer  fellowship  with  Christ — 
with  his  purposes  and  plans.  He  is  the  goal  toward 
which  all  must  steer  their  course.  Any  union  that 
answers  his  prayer  and  is  to  meet  with  his  approval, 
must  be  in  him. 

This  fact  has  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated. 
Any  agreement  among  ourselves  on  a  platform  of  our 
own  making  would  not  be  Christian  union.  It  is 
this  fact  that  has  led  the  Disciples  to  emphasize  the 
necessity  of  returning  to  the  original  basis  of  union 
and  to  its  high  ideals  of  Christian  life.    This  we 

—218— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


have  sought  to  do  ourselves,  and  yet  how  imper- 
fectly we  have  done  so  in  actual  practice,  no  one  can 
realize  more  keenly  than  we  ourselves.  But,  like 
Paul  again,  ''we  press  on  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.'* 
We  believe  we  have  made  some  progress,  and  in  so 
far  as  we  have  already  attained,  we  expect  our  breth- 
ren to  walk  by  the  same  rule. 

The  old  theory  of  Christian  union  by  the  absorp- 
tion of  all  other  religious  bodies  by  one  single  body 
is  utterly  abandoned  by  most  Protestant  Christians. 
Here  and  there  may  be  heard  a  belated  voice,  say- 
ing, *'The  way  to  have  Christian  union  is  for  all  the 
rest  of  you  to  join  us."  But  intelligent  Christians 
no  longer  expect  or  desire  to  see  union  come  about 
in  that  way.  As  a  substitute  for  that  impractica- 
ble dream  is  the  gradual  approximation  of  all 
Christian  bodies  to  the  mind  of  Christ  as 
revealed  in  the  New  Testament,  "until  we  all  come 
to  the  unity  of  the 'faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  Son  of  God.''  That  process  is  going  on  before 
us,  if  we  have  eyes  to  see.  Many  of  us  have  had  a 
different  view  as  to  how  union  will  come,  but  God 
is  showing  us  "a  more  excellent  way,"  and  we  are 
coming  to  his  way. 

The  plan  of  our  Episcopal  brethren  to  bring  us  all 
into  one  fold  by  our  recognition  of  *'the  historic 
episcopate,"  is  a  vain  delusion,  however  worthy  the 

—219— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


desire  which  prompts  it.  Unity  which  is  in  out- 
ward form,  or  which  consists  in  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  same  theory  of  church  government,  is 
not  the  unity  for  which  Jesus  prayed,  which  is 
inward,  spiritual  and  vital.  But  while  this  union  is 
inward  and  vital,  it  is  bound  to  manifest-  itself  in 
such  conformity  to  the  divine  will,  in  all  matters  of 
faith  and  practice,  as  will  manifest  the  unity  of  be- 
lievers to  the  world.  It  does  not,  however,  involve 
uniformity  in  thought,  or  in  methods  of  organiza- 
tion and  government. 

This  does  not  mean  that  we  are  to  be  indifferent 
to  what  God  requires  us  to  believe  and  do.  Nor 
does  it  mean  that  we  are  to  regard  *'one  church  as 
good  as  another.''  It  means  simply  that  we  all 
recognize  our  limitations  and  seek  steadfastly  to 
know  our  Master's  will  and  do  it — each  being  loyal 
to  his  own  convictions  of  truth,  and  encouraging 
others  to  do  the  same.  But  how  can  we  ever  unite 
if  each  is  loyal  to  his  own  convictions?  By  God 
sending  the  conviction  of  essential  truth  into  all 
honest  souls  seeking  the  truth,  and  by  making  it 
plain  to  us  that  we  are  to  receive  each  other  without 
regard  to  differences  of  opinion  concerning  matters 
not  vital  to  faith.  This  process  of  growth  is  now 
going  steadily  on,  and  as  a  result  of  it  we  are  hav- 
ing more  practical  Christian  union  to-day  than 
Protestants  have  ever  known. 


Th^  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


No,  it  is  not  by  one  religious  body  coming  to 
another,  however  correct  that  other  body  may  be  in 
its'  position,  but  by  all  coming  closer  to  Christ  and 
into  more  vital  union  with  him,  that  his  prayer  for 
the  oneness  of  his  followers  is  to  be  fulfilled — "even 
as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that 
they  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may  be- 
lieve.'* 


—221— 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
Hindrances  Within. 


''God  did  not  reveal  himself  to  man  4n 
many  parts  and  in  many  ways,'  just  be- 
cause be  was  sovereign,  and  chose  to  do 
so,  but  because  in  man's  nature  there  was 
a  necessity  which  demand  it,  and  to  which 
God's  method  was  adjusted  with  careful 
adaptation  and  infinite  skill." — G.  W. 
Longan,  Christian  Quarterly,  Vol.  VI.,  1874. 
▼   ▼  ▼ 

As  in  revelation,  so  has  it  been  in  the 
deepening  apprehension  of  the  revelation 
by  the  church.  "First  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,"  is  the 
law  of  progress  ia  the  kingdom. 


—224— 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


Hindrances  Within. 

After  all,  however,  the  chief  obstacles  to  the  prog- 
ress of  any  movement  are  not  misconceptions  and 
misrepresentations  of  those  without,  but  the  errors  in 
judgment  and  practice  of  those  within  the  move- 
ment. 

In  mentioning  some  ot  these  hindering  causes 
within  we  would  not  create  the  impression  that  this 
is  an  unusual  experience  with  religious  movements 
or  reformations  of  any  kind.  It  was  true  of  Chris- 
tianity itself.  Indeed,  no  cause  is  so  liable  to  be 
misapprehended  and  misrepresented  by  its  friends  as 
one  having  the  highest  ideals  and  aims  and  the  purest 
principles.  True  and  important  as  are  the  principles 
of  the  Reformation  which  we  plead,  they  have  been 
entrusted  to  * 'earthen  vessels,"  and  their  advocacy 
and  defence  have  been  in  the  hands  of  men  ''of  like 
passions,"  and  like  limitations  as  other  men.  Re- 
formations within  the  church,  like  the  gospel  net 
itself,  gather  in  all  kinds  of  men,  both  good  and  bad, 
and  the  various  types  and  degrees  of  intelligence  and 

(15)  —225— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 
culture.  That  some  of  these  would  misconceive  the 
spirit  and  principles  of  the  movement  was  inevitable; 
that  now  and  then  there  should  arise  men  who  would 
seek  on  some  pretense  or  other  to  draw  away  follow- 
ers after  themselves  was  to  have  been  expected  from 
the  whole  history  of  Christianity.  These  facts,  how- 
ever, constitute  no  valid  plea  against  Christianity  or 
against  the  reformations  within  the  church  which  they 
have  sought  topurify ;  they  simply  indicate  the  weak- 
ness and  perversity  of  our  poor  human  nature. 

I.  LOPSIDENBSS. 

One  of  the  great  dangers  which  beset  all  reformers 
and  reformations,  is  the  tendency  to  become  hobby- 
ists; that  is,  to  emphasize  certain  truths  at  the 
expense  of  others.  It  is  a  well-known  law  of  the 
human  mind  that  it  tends  to  magnify  unduly  anything 
on  which  it  exclusively  dwells.  For  this  reason  re- 
formers in  calling  attention  to  neglected  truths  and 
doctrines  are  liable  to  overstress  them  to  the  neglect 
of  the  great  fundamental  truths  which  they  hold  in 
common  with  others.  That  this  mistake  has  been 
made  by  many  of  the  advocates  of  the  current  reform- 
ation can  hardly  be  denied  by  any  candid  student  of 
our  history.  The  Bible  of  every  hobbyist  is  thum- 
worn  at  certain  proof  texts,  while  the  remainder  is 
practically  unused.  The  lopsidedness  of  this  sort  of 
teaching  and  preaching  becomes  apparent,  sooner  or 

—226— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


later,  and  honest  and  capable  men  seek  to  correct  the 
error  and  to  present  the  truth  in  its  true  proportions 
and  to  preach  a  full-orbed  gospel.  This  process  of 
self-correction  has  been  going  on  among  the  Disciples 
for  a  generation  or  more,  but  we  are  still  suffering  in 
reputation  from  impressions  made  by  an  earlier 
phase  of  the  movement. 

1 1 .    ABUSE  Olf  OUR  MOTTO. 

We  have  already  reverted,  in  an  earlier  chapter, 
to  the  saying  of  Thomas  Campbell — ''Where  the 
Scriptures  speak  we  speak;  where  the  Scriptures  are 
silent  we  are  silent" — as  having  been  misconceived 
and  abused  by  men  of  another  generation.  Used  in 
the  sense  in  which  its  author  intended  it,  it  was  a 
potent  instrument  of  religious  reform.  It  meant  loy- 
alty to  everything  which  Christ  has  required  of  us, 
and  freedom  from  every  human  yoke  which  men 
would  place  upon  their  fellows.  In  other  words,  it 
meant  submission  to  divine  authority,  and  freedom 
from  mere  human  authority.  The  abuse  of  it  by 
opponents  of  missionary  societies,  instrumental 
music  in  the  worship,  and  other  expedients  not  spe- 
cifically authorized  in  the  Scriptures,  has  been  a 
hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  Reformation.  Just 
as  the  spirit  of  legalism  threatened  to  strangle  Chris- 
tianity in  its  very  cradle,  so  it  made  a  determined 
assault  upon  the  Reformation  as  interpreted  by  its 

—227— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


more  liberal  defenders.  How  far  human  ambition 
has  linked  itself  with  this  misconception  of  our  posi- 
tion, to  accomplish  its  purpose  by  inciting  division, 
it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  it  is  charitable  to  suppose 
that  there  has  been  an  honest  misinterpretation  of 
that  fundamental  principle  of  the  movement,  which 
makes  the  Holy  Scriptures  its  inspired  rule  of  faith 
and  practice.  This  error  possesses  the  virtue  at  least 
of  being  self-destructive,  since  it  can  not  propagate 
itself  without  violating  its  own  principle. 

III.     RELATIONSHIP  TO  OTHER  CHRISTIANS. 

We  suppose  every  religious  movement  in  Christen- 
dom has  had  connected  with  it  at  least  some  men 
who  have  regarded  such  movement  as  constituting, 
if  not  the  whole  church,  at  least  the  one  "true 
church."  Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  doubt  the  sal- 
vation of  any  one  disconnected  with  their  own  com- 
munion. Narrowness  of  vision,  or  what  we  may  call 
the  sectarian  spirit,  has  cursed  and  hampered  every  re- 
ligious movement  within  the  church,  no  matter  how 
broad  and  generous  its  original  aims  may  have  been. 
Our  own  movement  has  been  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
In  Mr.  Campbell's  own  day  he  had  his  critics  who 
charged  him  with  too  great  liberality  as  regards  other 
religious  people,  and  who  felt  that  he  was  compro- 
mising the  plea  he  was  making  by  admitting  the 
Christian  character  of  those  not  connected  with  his 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


movement.  To  one  of  these  critics  lie  replied  as 
follows: 

But  who  is  a  Christian?  I  answer,  every  one  that  believes  in 
his  heart  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God; 
repents  of  his  sins  and  obeys  him  in  all  things  according  to  his 
measure  of  knowledge  of  his  will. 

I  can  not,  therefore,  make  any  one  duty  the  standard  of  Chris 
tian  state  or  character,  not  even  immersion  into  the  name  of  the 
Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  my  heart  re- 
gard all  that  have  been  sprinkled  in  infancy  without  their  own 
knowledge  and  consent  as  aliens  of  Christ  and  the  well-grounded 
hope  of  heaven. — (Mill,  Harbinger,  Vol.  for  1737,  p.  411.) 

Mr.  Campbell  did  not  regard  the  truths  stated  in 
the  foregoing  extract,  and  often  expressed  by  him  in 
other  terms,  as  reasons  for  departing  from  what  he 
believed  to  be  the  New  Testament  conditions  of 
church  membership,  which,  he  says  "after  a  long  and 
close  deliberation"  he  believed  to  be  "an  usurpation 
of  the  legislative  authority  vested  in  the  holy  apos- 
tles, and  of  dangerous  tendency  in  the  administration 
of  the  Reign  of  Heaven."  It  did,  however,  furnish 
ground  for  regarding  his  religious  neighbors  with 
charity  and  brotherly  esteem,  and  of  co-operating 
with  them  in  every  good  word  and  work,  where  it 
was  possible  to  do  so  without  compromising  any 
truth  or  principle.  In  his  great  heart  there  was  room 
for  a  generous  appreciation  of  all  that  was  true  and 
Christlike  in  other  religious  bodies. 

There  have  always  been  those  associated  with  the 
religious  movement  of  the  Disciples  who  have  not 

—229-- 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


shared  Mr.  Campbell's  larger  ideas  of  fellowship. 
Perhaps  no  single  question  has  caused  more  discus- 
sion in  the  newspapers  of  the  Disciples  than  the  re- 
lation of  the  reformatory  movement  and  the  churches 
it  embraces  to  other  religious  bodies.  The  fact 
that  the  Reformation  is  a  movement  within  the  one 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth  to  promote  its  unity 
by  the  restoration  of  simple  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity as  the  basis  of  fellowship  and  ground  of  union, 
ought  to  make  clear  our  relations  to  other  Christians 
who  are  avowedly  seeking  to  follow  Christ  as  they 
understand  Him.  We  are  not  to  regard  such  bodies 
of  Christians  as  enemies,  but  as  allies  in  the  common 
cause  of  bringing  this  world  under  the  dominion  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  Reformation  has  a  message  that, 
it  is  believed,  if  heeded,  will  bring  about  a  more  per- 
fect union  between  all  the  followers  of  Christ  by  which 
they  can  have  more  perfect  co-operation  in  advanc- 
ing Christ's  kingdom.  Meanwhile  it  is  desirable  that 
all  these  bodies  having  a  common  object,  but  differing 
somewhat  in  their  points  of  view,  and  in  their 
methods,  should  co-operate  as  far  as  practicable  in 
advancing  their  common  interests,  both  because 
they  can  accomplish,  by  united  effort,  many  things 
which  can  not  be  accomplished  by  separate  action, 
and  because  such  co-operation  is  the  best  method  of 
promoting  that  mutual  acquaintanceship  and  appre- 
ciation which  is  essential  to  more  perfect  union. 

—230— 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Hindrances  Within. — {Continued.') 


''I  said  at  the  beginning,  I  say  at  the 
close,  of  my  notice  of  the  Evangelical  Al- 
liance, that  I  thank  God  and  take  courage 
at  every  effort,  however  imperfect  it  may 
be,  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  community  to  the 
impotency  and  wickedness  of  schism,  and 
to  impress  upon  the  conscientious  and  be- 
nevolent portion  of  the  Christian  profession 
the  excellency,  the  beauty  and  the  neces- 
sity of  co-operation  in  the  cause  of  Christ 
as  pre-requisite  to  the  diffusion  of  Chris- 
tianity throughout  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"The  Eeformation  for  which  we  plead 
grew  out  of  a  conviction  of  the  enormous 
evils  of  schism  and  partyism,  and  the  first 
article  ever  printed  by  any  of  the  co-oper- 
ants  in  the  present  effort  was  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  the  necessity,  practicability  and  ex- 
cellency of  Christian  union  and  communion, 
in  order  to  the  purification  and  extension 
of  the  Christian  profession." — Alexander 
Campbell, 


—232— 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


Hindrances  Within. — (  Continued, ) 

IV.  AN  II.I.UMINATING  CHAPTER. 
The  discussion  among  the  Disciples  in  recent 
years  on  the  subject  of  federation  furnishes  an  illu- 
minating chapter  on  the  process  of  getting  out  of  the 
narrow  provincialism,  into  which  many  had  uncon- 
sciously fallen,  into  the  wider  vision  of  their  rela- 
tionship to  other  Christians,  and  of  their  respon- 
sibility, as  a  Christian  union  movement,  in  helping 
bring  to  some  practical  realization  that  earnest  de- 
sire for  Christian  union  and  fellowship  which 
is  so  marked  a  feature  of  our  time.  There 
has  been  no  desire  or  purpose  on  the  part  of  the 
advocates  of  the  plan  of  co-operation  known  as 

federation  to  compromise  any  principle  of  the  Re- 
formation. On  the  contrary,  it  is  their  deep  convic- 
tion that  our  failure  to  enter  in  heartily  with  such  a 
co-operative  movement  would  be  the  practical  re- 
pudiation of  the  chief  thing  for  which  we  are  con- 
tending. It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  most 
of  the  leaders  of  the  movement  and  the  great  body 

—233— 


The;  Story  of  a  Century. 


of  the  membership,  have  hailed  with  joy  this  ad- 
vance step  on  the  part  of  Evangelical  Protestants 
toward  the  realization  of  Christ's  prayer  for  unity. 
Indeed,  what  opposition  there  has  been  to  the  move- 
ment, in  so  far  as  it  has  been  sincere,  has  grown  out 
of  a  misapprehension  of  its  spirit  and  aim.  This 
spirit  is  so  consonant  with  the  spirit  which  animated 
the  leaders  of  this  Reformation  in  the  beginning, 
that  to  understand  it  is  to  be  in  sympathy  with  it. 
It  is  highly  probable  that  in  working  out  this  prob- 
lem some  mistakes  will  be  made  which  will  require 
correction,  for  we  are  entering  upon  new  ground  and 
must  learn  by  experience.  It  is  quite  sure,  how- 
ever, that  the  church,  so  far  as  as  Protestantism  is 
concerned,  has  opened  a  new  chapter  in  its  history 
and  has  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  progress,  looking 
toward  the  unification  of  its  divided  forces.  What- 
ever changes  may  be  made  in  the  methods  of  co-op- 
eration proposed,  one  thing  is  certain,  and  that  is 
that  these  great  Protestant  evangelical  bodies  will 
never  return  to  that  state  of  mutual  hostility  out  of 
which  they  have  grown,  but  will  continue  to  seek 
the  fuller  realization  of  Christ's  prayer  for  unity. 

V.     A  SEVERE  TEST. 
One  of  the  most  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Reformation — the  distinction    between    faith  and 
opinion,  with  unity  in  the  former  and  liberty  in  the 
latter — has  been  the  hardest  one  to  live  up  to.  Men 

—234— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


love  their  opinions  tenaciously,  and  the  temptation 
is  often  strong  to  make  other  people  think  as  we  do 
on  pain  of  incurring  our  disfellowship.  The  rise 
in  modern  times  of  the  historical  criticism  of  the 
Bible  has  made  a  severe  test  in  all  religious  bodies 
of  the  principle  of  Christian  liberty,  and  among  the 
Disciples  it  has  furnished,  perhaps,  the  severest  test 
which  has  so  far  arisen  to  its  basic  principle  of  unity 
already  stated.  That  such  historical  investigation 
of  the  Bible  should  come,  was,  of  course,  inevitable, 
and  that  its  outcome  will  be  to  the  great  advantage 
of  Christianity,  few  robust  believers  in  the  Bible 
doubt.  Ivike  all  new  movements,  however,  this 
critical  movement  has  been  misjudged  and  misun- 
derstood. The  very  word  criticism  has  conveyed  to 
many  honest  minds  the  idea  of  fault-finding,  and 
critics  were  supposed  to  be  a  class  of  people  who 
took  delight  in  finding  fault  w4th  the  Bible  and 
pointing  out  its  imperfections!  Moreover,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  some  of  the  critics  and  their  crit- 
icisms have  served  to  confirm  this  superficial  view  of 
criticism.  It  can  readily  be  understood  that  a 
people  who  stand  so  thoroughly  committed  to  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  Disciples  of  Christ 
would  not  regard  lightly  any  movement  whose  object 
and  effect  were  thought  to  undermine  the  Bible. 
This  much  at  least  is  to  their  credit.  But,  admit- 
ting the  legitimacy  of  the  historical  and  literary 

—235— 


The:  Story  of  a  Ce:ntury. 


criticism  of  the  Bible,  as  all  thinking  people  now  do 
the  question  still  arises  as  to  how  far  men  may  go, 
within  the  limits  of  Christian  liberty,  in  accepting 
conclusions  concerning  the  Bible  which  have  not 
hitherto  been  received.  '  This  question  has  disturbed 
every  religious  body  in  Christendom.  It  has  led  to 
heresy  trials,  to  the  dismissal  of  college  professors, 
and  to  a  vast  amount  of  heated  discussion  in  the 
religious  periodicals  of  the  various  religious  bodies. 
This  question  would  seem  to  be  easily  answered  by 
applying  to  it  our  accepted  principle  of  requiring 
unity  in  faith,  and  liberty  in  matters  of  opinions 
There  is,  as  we  all  know,  a  class  of  rationalistic  or 
destructive  critics,  who  start  out  with  the  presup- 
position that  every  miraculous  event  recorded  in  the 
Bible  is  unhistorical,  because  miracles  do  not  occur, 
and  that  every  recorded  event  or  utterance  of  Jesus, 
or  concerning  Jesus,  by  his  apostles,  that  would 
assign  him  a  unique  place  among  the  children 
of  men,  such  as  "the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God,"  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world  is  un- 
trustworthy, because  such  a  character  there 
could  not  have  been  in  the  natural  order  of  history, 
and  the  natural  order  of  history  is  the  only  order 
which  these  critics  admit  to  be  possible.  The 
trouble  with  these  men  is  not  primarily  their  crit- 
icism, but  their  lack  of  faith.  Moralists  they  may 
be,  but  Christians  in  any  New  Testament  sense  they 


The:  Story  of  a  Century. 


can  not  be,  for  they  do  not  believe  in  Christ,  as  the 
apostles  and  the  first  Christians  believed  in  Him, 
nor  do  they  accept  Christ's  own  view  of  His  person 
and  mission.  Their  radical  conclusions,  which  are 
at  war  with  all  Christian  history,  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  legitimate  Biblical  criticism. 

There  is  another  class  of  critics,  who  are  profound 
believers  in  the  unique  character  of  the  Biblical 
literature,  and  in  the  divine  character  of  Jesus  Christ 
who  is  revealed  therein.  They  differ  among  them- 
selves on  certain  historical  questions  concerning  the 
dates  and  authorship  of  books,  but  they  hold  in  com- 
mon the  lyordship  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  authority  of 
the  sacred  writings.  It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  for 
a  religious  movement  like  that  advocated  by  the  Dis- 
ciples to  admit  fullest  liberty  in  Biblical  criticism 
within  the  limits  just  mentioned.  It  is  perfectly 
legitimate,  of  course,  for  any  Disciple  to  question  the 
correctness  of  any  conclusion  touching  the  date 
or  nature,  or  authorship  of  any  of  the  books  of 
the  Bible,  but  to  make  such  opinions  and  conclu- 
sions a  bar  to  fellowship,  is  clearly  to  depart  from 
the  basis  of  unity  which  we  have  proposed.  Of 
course  it  may  be  said,  and  often  is  said,  that  if  a 
certain  conclusion  concerning  an  Old  Testament 
book  be  accepted,  it  antagonizes  what  Christ  has 
said  in  the  New  Testament,  and  is,  therefore, 
disloyalty  to  him.    So  long,  however,  as  those  hold- 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


ing  such  view  concerning  any  Old  Testament  book 
hold  also  to  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  manifest 
their  loyalty  to  him  in  their  faith  and  service,  we 
have  no  right  to  pronounce  them  infidel,  or  to 
exclude  them  from  our  fellowship,  because  we  do  not 
know  how  they  harmonize  their  views  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  with  their  faith  in  the  Lord- 
ship of  Jesus  Christ.  At  this  point  some  have  erred, 
and  their  error  has  been  a  hindrance  to  our  unity 
and  our  progress.  The  author  of  this  historical 
sketch,  while  freely  admitting  the  legitimacy  and 
the  value  of  historical  criticism,  is  himself  naturally 
a  conservative  as  to  the  conclusions  and  results 
of  such  criticism;  but  he  believes  profoundly  that 
the  failure  of  our  leaders  to  recognize  the  Christian 
character  and  standing  of  men  among  us  who  accept 
conclusions  within  the  limitations  above  indicated, 
would  prove  disastrous  to  our  plea  for  unity.  We 
do  not  anticipate,  however,  that  any  such  policy 
will  prevail.  If  our  religious  movement  does  not 
mean  liberty  to  think  freely  on  all  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  Bible  and  of  Christianity,  within  the 
limitations  of  loyal  faith,  it  means  nothing,  and  our 
existence  is  without  justification.  The  whole  diffi- 
culty here,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  is  the 
difficulty  of  living  up  to  our  own  high  standard.  If 
any  one  thinks  that  loyalty  to  Christ  requires  him  to 
exact  other  terms  of  fellowship  of  his  brethren  than 

—238— 


Th^  Story  of  a  Century. 


faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  loyalty  to  him,  he  has  a 
right  to  make  his  creed  and  to  advocate  it.  But  he 
has  no  right  to  do  so  in  the  name  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, which  bases  its  right  to  be,  and  its  plea  for 
unity,  on  the  very  principle  he  has  repudiated. 

VI.     THE  CHIEF  OBSTACI.E. 

Of  course,  the  chief  hindrance  to  the  progress  of 
the  movement,  as  it  is  the  chief  hindrance  to  the 
progress  of  every  true  and  righteous  cause,  is  the 
failure  of  its  advocates  to  exemplify  more  perfectly 
the  principles  which  they  teach.    As  those  seeking 
to  restore  New  Testament  Christianity,  the  advo- 
cates of  this  Reformation  are  under  the  most  solemn 
obligations  to  manifest  the  spirit    and  temper  of 
Christ,  and  to  make  their  daily  conduct  comport 
with  his  teaching.    The  New  Testament  inculcates 
the  most  liberal  Christian  giving.    We  have  not 
always  given  as  the  Lord  has  prospered  us.    It  re- 
quires unity  and  co-operation  in  every  good  work. 
Many  of  our  churches  and  individual  members,  and 
even  ministers,  have  stood  aloof  from  the  co-opera- 
tive movements  of  the  brotherhood.    It  inculcates  a 
brotherly  love  that  prevails  over  mere  differences  of 
opinion,  while  we  have  often  quarreled  with  each 
other  over  such  differences.    It  requires  a  faith  that 
subordinates  all  material  interests  to  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  its  righteousness;  but,  alas,  the  kingdom  of 

—239— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


God  has  often  been  allowed  to  languish  for  support 
while  we  have  been  intent  on  material  gain.  In 
a  word,  like  most  other  religionists,  we  have  often 
given  more  emphasis  to  sound  doctrine  than  to 
sound  living,  and  we  have  too  often  been  more 
zealous  for  soundness  in  faith  than  soundness  in 
charity,  which  is  greater  than  faith 


—240— 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
The  Remedy. 


''It  is  faith  which  makes  a  Christian; 
and  when  the  Christian  attitude  of  the 
SOU-  to  Christ  is  found,  it  must  be  free  to 
raise  its  own  problems  and  to  work  out 
its  own  solutions.  This  is  the  point  at 
which  'broad'  churchism  is  in  the  right 
against  an  evangelical  Christianity  which 
has  not  learned  to  distinguish  between  its 
faith — in  which  it  is  unassailable — and 
inherited  forms  of  doctrine  which  have 
been  unreflectingly  identified  with  it. 
Natural  as  such  identification  may  be,  and 
painful  as  it  may  be  to  separate  in  thought 
things  which  have  coalesced  in  strong  and 
sacred  feelings  there  is  nothing  more  cer- 
tain than  that  the  distinction  must  be  rec- 
ognized if  evangelical  Christians  are  to 
maintain  their  intellectual  integrity,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  in  a  world  which  is  in- 
tellectually free.  We  are  bound  to  Christ, 
and  would  see  all  men  so  bound;  but  we 
must  leave  it  to  Cnrist  to  establish  his 
ascendency  over  men  in  His  own  way — by 
the  power  of  what  He  is  and  of  what  He 
has  done — and  not  seek  to  secure  it  be- 
forehand by  the  imposition  of  chains  of  our 
forging." — Jesus  and  the  Gospel,'^  hy 
James  Denney,  D.  D. 


 242  


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


The  Remedy. 

We  have  been  indicating  some  of  the  things  which 
have  hindered  greater  progress  in  our  Reformatory 
movement  in  the  past.  Others  might  be  mentioned, 
but  these  will  suffice  to  explain  why  a  cause  that  has 
so  much  to  commend  it,  that  makes  such  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  enlightened  conscience  and  judgment 
of  men,  has  not  made  even  more  rapid  advance  than 
it  has  made  within  the  century  of  its  existence.  It 
is  most  encouraging,  however,  to  know  that  so  far  as 
our  own  faults  are  concerned,  we  have  within  our 
reach  the  remedy  for  the  weaknesses  which,  to  some 
extent,  have  marred  our  work  in  the  past.  These 
mistakes  have  grown  out  of  our  youth  and  inexperi- 
ence.   The  remedy  for  these  is  growth,  and  already 
many  of  the  impediments  which  have  retarded  the 
wheels  of  our  progress  have  been  eliminated  by  the 
simple  law  of  growth,  or  spiritual  development. 
There  is  every  reason,  therefore,  for  believing  that 
other  errors  which  may  remain  will  be  disposed  of  in 
the  same  way. 

We  said  above  that  we  have  in  our  possession  the 
remedy  for  past  mistakes.    What  we  mean  is,  that 

_243— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


there  is  inherent  in  the  very  fundamental  principles 
of  the  movement  which  we  advocate,  the  law  of  pro- 
gressive development.  In  committing  ourselves  to  a 
Person  as  our  divine  L<eader,  and  not  to  a  formulated 
and  crystallized  creed,  we  have  committed  ourselves 
to  the  law  of  progress.  We  may  go  into  permanent 
camp  on  a  fixed  human  creed,  but  with  Christ  as  our 
creed  we  must  **followon  to  know  the  lyord."  We 
can  not  follow  Christ  as  I^eader  without  growing  in 
the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and,  therefore  in  the  know- 
ledge of  his  religion,  and  therefore  in  the  power  of 
spiritual  discernment.  The  liberty  to  think,  and  to 
reach  our  convictions  of  duty  for  ourselves  is  not  more 
inherent  in  the  plea  we  are  making  than  the  obliga- 
tion to  grow  both  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth.  It  has  been  a  commonplace  among  us 
from  the  beginning,  that  Christian  life  has  its  periods 
of  infancy,  youth-time  and  of  mature  manhood,  just 
as  the  physical  life  passes  through  these  stages  of 
development.  What  is  true  of  the  individual  is  true 
of  a  religious  movement  as  a  whole,  which  must  em- 
body the  sum-total  of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
development  of  its  several  parts.  If  we  fail  to  recog- 
nize the  law  of  spiritual  growth  as  applicable  to 
religious  movements  as  well  as  to  the  individual,  v/e 
might  well  grow  pessimistic  as  to  the  future. 

Our  own  history,  without  going  further  back  in  the 
history  of  the  church,  will  be  sufficient  to  show  us 

—244— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


that  a  reformatory  movement  is  subject  to  the  same 
law  of  growth  as  the  individual.    What  were  living 
and  vital  questions  at  one  period  have  ceased  to  be 
such  in  another  period.    These  questions  were  out- 
grown.   Their  solution  was  reached,  and  the  move- 
ment passed  on  to  meet  with  new  problems,  which, 
in  their  turn,  have  been  settled  and  relegated  to  the 
past.    What  could  not  have  been  accomplished  at 
one  period  in  our  history,  because  we  were  not  ready 
for  it,  has  been  readily  accomplished  at  a  later  period, 
because  we  were  prepared  for  that  particular  task. 
It  is  amusing  but  even  more  instructive,  to  look  back 
and  see  that  obstacles  which  seemed  to  rise  mountain 
high  in  our  path  were  but  pebbles,  after  all,  and  that 
clouds,  which  at  one  time,  to  our  untrained  vision, 
seemed  to  permanently  eclipse  the  sun,  were  but  va- 
pors and  mists  of  the  earth,  which  have  been  dissolved 
and  have  passed  out  of  existence.    No  doubt  other 
obstacles  will  appear  in  our  path,  and  other  clouds 
will  arise  and  cause  the  hearts  of  some  to  tremble  for 
fear,  but  we  shall  either  go  around  the  obstacle,  or 
move  it  out  of  the  way,  and  in  due  time  the  clouds  will 
be  dispersed  and  leave  the  bright  shining  of  the  sun. 

After  all,  is  this  not  just  what  we  might  have  antic- 
ipated if  we  had  only  believed  Christ's  word,  "I,o, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world?" 
If  he  is  leading  us  on  to  a  larger,  richer,  and  better 
life,  and  to  nobler  and  higher  achievements,  will  he 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


not  enable  us  to  meet  the  difficulties  which  arise  in 
the  path  of  our  progress?  There  is  no  insuperable 
difficulty  to  those  who  are  following  the  moral  and 
spiritual  leadership  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  whose  sole 
mission  is  to  do  His  will  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven.  We  shall  find  in  Him  the  solution  of  all  the 
new  questions  that  may  arise,  and  the  power  to  ad- 
just ourselves  to  the  changing  conditions  of  the  world , 
with  the  passing  years.  It  is  not  by  cowardly  refusing 
to  go  forward,  for  fear  of  difficulties  and  dangers,  that 
we  are  to  realize  our  mission,  but  in  heroically  follow- 
ing Him,  and  in  his  strength  combating  whatever 
foes  may  arise  to  impede  oui  progress.  The  advo- 
cates of  a  fixed  human  creed  may  go  into  permanent 
camp  and  fortify  themselves  to  defend  their  position; 
but  those  who  make  the  Living  Christ  their  only 
creed  are  bound  to  follow  Him  into  whatever  new 
fields  of  service  or  wider  ranges  of  thought  He  may 
lead. 

In  other  words,  open-mindedness  to  the  truth,  the 
willingness  to  receive  new  truth,  the  humility  that 
recognizes  the  limitations  of  our  knowledge,  the 
eaoferness  to  know  all  that  God  would  teach  us — this 
is  the  remedy  for  all  our  imperfections  and  errors  in 
judgment,  as  it  is  the  prophecy  of  an  ever-bright- 
ening career  of  usefulness  for  any  man  or  movement 
striving  to  reach  the  higher  ideals.  A  continuous 
reformation,  adjusting  itself  to  the  varying  conditions 

—246— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


and  needs  of  the  world,  ours  must  be,  or  it  must  de- 
cay and  cease  to  be  a  Reformation  at  all,  becoming 
a  monument  rather  than  a  movement.  We  need  not 
to  be  seriously  disturbed  over  this  or  that  mistake, 
for  **to  err  is  human";  but  we  may  well  be  alarmed 
at  any  tendency  to  shut  our. eyes  and  close  our  hearts 
to  the  increasing  light  which  God  is  shedding  upon 
His  work  and  upon  His  Word.  Nothing  else,  except 
downright  moral  failure,  is  so  fatal  to  the  fortunes  of 
a  religious  reformation  as  the  tendency  to  crystallize 
its  convictions  of  truth  into  a  fixed  and  unchanging 
creed,  and  the  refusal  to  follow  the  truth  as  God  gives 
us  to  see  the  truth. 

But  let  us  make  no  mistake  here.  The  progress  of 
which  we  speak,  and  which  has  in  it  the  remedy  for 
the  evils  which  afflict  our  own  religious  movement 
and  the  church  universal,  is  not  the  result  of  mere 
intellectual  development,  or  the  product  of  the  unaided 
human  mind  working  out  the  great  questions  which 
may  arise.  On  the  contrary,  real  progress  in  spiritual 
growth  can  only  come  through  a  deeper  and  truer 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  knowledge  comes 
only  through  the  presence  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  of 
God  in  the  church  and  in  the  hearts  of  all  true  believ- 
ers. Jesus  said,  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto 
you,  but  ye  can  not  bear  them  now.  Howbeit,  when 
he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he  shall  guide  you 
into  all  the  truth.  ...  He  shall  glorify  me;  for  He 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  declare  it  unto  you." 
(John  16:12-14.)  Here  is  the  true  secret  of  all  real 
progress  in  Christianity.  Jesus  was  not  able  to  com 
municate  all  the  truth  to  his  disciples  which  he  saw 
they  would  need  in  the  coming  days,  because  they 
were  not  able  at  the  time  to  receive  it.  Here  is  a 
clear  recognition  of  the  law  of  growth.  He  promised, 
however,  to  send  His  Spirit  to  dwell  in  his  followers, 
and  to  communicate  to  them  an  ever-deepening 
knowledge  of  his  glory.  It  was  through  this  better 
knowledge  of  Christ  that  they  were  to  be  able  to  meet 
all  the  difficult  questions  of  their  time,  just  as  it  is 
through  a  better  knowledge  of  Christ  that  we  shall 
be  able  to  meet  all  the  questions  that  may  arise  in 
our  day.  It  is  not  in  the  wisdom  of  this  world  to 
lead  the  church  into  the  true  path  of  progress.  Only 
Jesus  Christ  himself  can  do  that,  and  he  does  it  by 
his  personal  presence,  as  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the 
church. 

Much  that  is  called  progress  is  mere  change, — a 
change  from  the  old  to  the  new,  and  may  be  away 
from  the  truth  instead  of  hito  larger  truth.  All  true 
progress  is  toward  Christ  and  not  away  from  Him — 
toward  a  better  knowledge  of  His  will  and  a  more 
faithful  observance  of  it. 

Is  it  not  plain  from  these  considerations  that  it  is 
only  in  loyally  following  Jesus  Christ,  and  in.  seeking 

—248— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  we  shall  con 
tinue  to  make  that  safe  and  sane  progress  which  will 
enable  us  to  adapt  our  methods,  and  our  message,  to 
the  needs  of  each  age,  and  to  keep  the  **unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace?'*  A  deeper  spiritual  life, 
a  more  vital  union  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  spirit- 
ual growth  which  is  the  necessary  result  of  such  a 
union — this  is  the  remedy  for  all  our  spiritual  ills, 
and  the  pledge  of  a  triumphant  future. 


—249— 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
Some  Things  Accomplished. 


The  work  of  inau^ratlng  and  carrying 
forward  a  religious  reformation  is  among 
the  most  difficult  of  enterprises  in  which 
men  engage.  The  very  fact  that  a  reforma- 
tion is  necessary  implies  antagonism  to 
existing  theories  and  practices,  many  of 
which  by  long  usage  have  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  sacred.  That  an  attempt  to  cor- 
rect abuses  and  errors  in  the  Church  should 
itself  be  misconceived  and  misrepresented 
is  inevitable,  as  human  nature  is  constituted. 
So  that  not  only  is  the  natural  inertia  in 
religious  matters  to  be  overcome,  but  deter- 
mined opposition,  often  sincere  and  some- 
times unscrupulous.  Besides,  there  are  the 
mistakes  of  untrained  and  ill-informed  ad- 
vocates which  for  a  time  form  a  serious 
hindrance  to  a  new  movement.  That  the 
Eeformation  urged  by  the  Disciples  should 
have  gained  the  strength  and  influence  which 
it  has  to-day,  in  spite  of  these  facts,  is  the 
strongest  evidence  that  it  possesses  inherent 
elements  of  power,  and  is  indeed  one  of 
the  great  providential  movements  within 
the  Church,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the 
immanent  Spirit  of  God  working  in  loyal 
hearts  for  the  extension  of  Christ's  king- 
dom in  the  world, 


-—252— 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


Some  Things  Accomplished. 

A  hundred  years  is  a  short  period  in  the  life  of  a 
great  religious  movement.  In  this  brief  period,  how- 
ever, it  is  believed  that  some  things  worth  while 
have  been  accomplished,  and  a  brief  resume  of  this 
will  be  in  order  here. 

I.  The  Reformation  of  the  nineteenth  century 
has  found  itself.  This  is  no  small  achievement.  It 
is  one  thing  to  see  clearly  and  declare  boldly  a  few 
general  guiding  principles  which  ought  to  be  applied 
to  the  work  of  religious  reform.  It  is  quite  another, 
and  far  more  difficult,  undertaking  to  practically  ap- 
ply these  principles  to  actual  conditions  and  to  ex- 
isting problems  in  the  religious  world.  Of  course, 
the  leaders  in  this  movement  did  not  at  first  compre- 
hend all  that  was  involved  in  the  principles  set  forth 
in  the  Declaration  and  Address.  It  takes  time  even 
for  the  greatest  minds  to  free  themselves  from  the  do- 
minion of  erroneous  conclusions  and  prejudices  of 
earlier  years  so  as  to  be  free  to  see  the  truth,  to  re- 
ceive it  and  to  adjust  it  to  whatever  convictions  of 
truth  have  been  previously  received.    In  saying  that 

—253— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


our  religious  movement  has  fozmd  itself^  it  is  not 
meant  that  it  has  mastered  all  religious  truth,  but 
simply  that  it  has  come  to  see  what  is  involved  in  its 
avowed  principles,  so  far  as  existing  conditions  are 
concerned.  It  has  learned,  among  other  things,  that 
it  came  not  to  destroy  previous  reformations,  but  to 
fulfill  them;  that  it  is  not  to  be  an  Ishmaelite,  whose 
hand  is  against  the  hand  of  every  other  man,  but  a 
brother  and  fellow- helper  of  all  who  love  the  lyord 
Jesus,  and  are  seeking  to  know  the  truth  which  He 
ivas  and  which  He  taught;  that  it  has  not  attained 
to  perfection  of  knowledge  or  practice,  but  having 
been  called  of  God  to  witness  to  certain  great  truths 
and  principles,  vital  to  the  needs  of  its  time,  it  would 
bear  this  message  in  love  and  humility,  being  a  fel- 
low-student with  all  other  lovers  of  truth  in  seeking 
a  deeper  and  wider  knowledge  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  It  has  found  its  true  relationship  with  other 
followers  of  Christ,  and  has  come  to  see  that  its  mis- 
sion can  only  be  fulfilled  in  fellowship  and  co-opera- 
tion with  other  religious  bodies,  in  so  far  as  this  is 
practicable  under  existing  conditions. 

2.  It  has  made  clear  to  itself,  and  to  many  others, 
that  its  message  of  Christian  union  is  the  great  truth 
for  the  time  that  needs  emphasis,  and  that  such 
union  can  only  be  realized  by  a  return  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  sole  foundation  of  our  faith,  and  of  obedience 
to  his  simple  requirements  as  the  sole  test  of  Chris- 

—254— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


tian  fellowship.  That  much  credit  is  due  it  for  the 
great  emphasis  that  is  being  given  to-day  to  the  sub- 
ject of  Christian  union  and  of  co-operation,  no  can- 
did and  intelligent  mind  will  deny. 

3.  It  has  demonstrated  the  practicability  of  main- 
taining existence  and  progress  as  a  religious  move- 
ment  without  a  written  or  authoritative  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  other  than  the  New  Testament,  and 
without  any  other  creed  or  confession  of  faith  than 
that  on  which  Jesus  said  he  would  build  his  church 
— the  Christhood  and  divinity  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
— and  without  the  use  of  other  than  scriptural 
names  and  designations  which  are  applicable  to  all 
believers  in  Christ. 

4.  It  has  demonstrated  not  only  the  practicability, 
but  the  vast  superiority  of  the  New  Testament  method 
of  evangelism,  by  returning  to  the  practice  of  meth- 
ods followed  by  the  apostles  both  in  preaching  Christ 
and  proclaiming  terms  of  reconciliation  with  him. 

5.  It  has  done  much  to  magnify  the  Word  of 
God,  and  to  promote  Bible  study,  by  its  emphasis  on 
the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  sole  authority  in  religion. 

6.  It  has  restored  the  two  ordinances — baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper — to  their  original  and  right- 
ful place  in  the  church,  and  given  them  a  new  beauty 
and  significance  ahogether  consistent  with  the  most 
spiritual  conception  of  Christianity. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


7.  It  has  demonstrated  the  practicability  of  pro- 
moting co-operation  among  local  churches  in  mis- 
sionary work,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  by  the  co- 
hesive power  of  a  common  faith  and  a  common  love, 
without  the  binding  authority  of  a  human  creed. 

8.  It  has  harmonized  the  principle  of  loyalty  to 
Christ  with  the  greatest  freedom  of  thought  and  in- 
vestigation, by  distinguishing  between  faith  and 
opinion,  and  has  thus  demonstrated  the  practica- 
bility of  Christian  union  without  the  sacrifice  of 
either  loyalty  or  liberty,  but  by  marrying  them  in  a 
happy  union.  Honoring  as  it  does  the  name  and 
memory  of  Mr.  Campbell,  because  of  his  ability 
and  of  his  consecration  to  a  great  providential  mis- 
sion it  yet  refuses  to  take  his  name,  or  to  make  his 
teaching  the  standard  of  their  faith  or  practice, 
accepting  the  words  of  Jesus,  "One  is  your  Master 
and  all  ye  are  brethren. 

So  much  in  the  way  of  what  might  be  called  doc- 
trinal achievement  and  progress.  Looking  now  in 
the  direction  of  visible  and  tangible  results  achieved, 
we  may  mention  the  following: 

I.  On  the  basis  of  fellowship  indicated  in  the 
foregoing,  and  by  the  force  of  the  plea  for  religious 
reform  which  it  has  made,  more  than  a  million  and 
a  quarter  of  adherents  have  been  won  to  its  cause, 
existing  in  11,647  free  and  independent  churches 

—256— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


with  8,904  Sunday-schools,  6,877  ministers,  with 
church  property  valued  at  nearly  $30,000,000. 

2.  It  has  established  and  has  in  successful  opera- 
tion, twenty-seven  colleges,  universities  and  schools 
of  lower  grade,  with  more  than  a  thousand  minis- 
terial students,  with  property  valued  at  four  million 
dollars  and  endowment  near  two  million. 

3.  It  has  organized  missionary  societies  for  work 
at  home  and  abroad,  which  last  year  raised  and  dis- 
bursed for  missions  $1,056,293.  Besides  this  there 
were  raised: 

For  Educational  buildings  and  endowment  $311,984 

For  National  Benevolent  work   132,30 

For  Ministerial  Relief   12,550 

It  is  supporting  foreign  missions  in  Africa,  China, 
India,  Japan,  England,  Cuba,  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
the  Philippine  Islands,  Porto  Rico,  Tibet,  Scandi- 
navia, Jamaica  and  South  America,  and  has  erected 
and  is  supporting  colleges,  orphanages  and  hospitals 
in  most  of  these  countries.  It  is  only  in  later  years, 
after  its  many  local  problems  had  been  solved,  that 
the  missionary  spirit  has  had  opportunity  to  develop, 
and  in  this  time  it  has  grown  rapadly ,  but  we  have  not 
yet  reached  anything  like  the  limit  of  our  possibili- 
ties in  missionary  work.  Both  the  American  Chris- 
tian Missionary  Society,  organized  in  1849, 
Foreign  Christian  Missionary  Society,  organized  in 
(17)  —257— 


Thh  Story  of  a  Century. 


1875,  growing  in  strength  and  usefulness  every 
year. 

4.  In  the  Christian  Woman's  Board  of  Missions, 
an  organization  for  both  home  and  foreign  work, 
which  is  managed  exclusively  by  the  women  of  our 
churches,  an  opportunity  has  been  offered  to  our 
women  to  promote  their  own  spiritual  development 
while  co-operating  for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 
Perhaps  no  more  successful  missionary  organization 
exists  than  that  of  our  Christian  women.  The  Jun- 
iors are  a  part  of  their  work,  and  a  generation  is 
being  trained  up  for  larger  missionary  service. 

5.  The  Board  of  Church  Extension,  for  assisting 
weak  churches  in  erecting  suitable  houses  of  wor- 
ship, has  become  the  right  hand  of  our  missionary 
work,  and  is  aiming  to  reach  the  sum  of  one  million 
dollars  in  resources  by  the  Centennial. 

6.  The  National  Benevolent  Association,  coming 
into  existence  later  than  the  others,  has  outstripped 
them  all  in  the  rapidity  of  its  growth.  It  has  or- 
phanages and  homes  for  the  aged  and  poor  in  many 
states,  and  last  year  raised  over  $120,000  for  its  work. 

7.  In  Christian  Endeavor,  in  inter-denomina- 
tional Bible  school  work,  in  the  Young  Men's  and 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associations  and  in  co- 
operation with  other  religious  bodies  through  the 
*' Federal    Council   of  the  Churches   of  Christ  in 

—258— 


The  Story  of  a  Century- 


America,*'  this  movement  has  demonstrated  its 
catholicity  of  spirit,  its  zeal  for  unity,  and  its  will- 
ingness to  avail  itself  of  every  opportunity  of  mani- 
festing its  sympathy  with  every  good  word  and  work. 

8.  The  Brotherhood  Movement,  which  recently 
has  been  revived  among  the  churches  of  the  Ref- 
ormation is  rallying  our  men  both  for  work  in  the 
local  churches,  and  massing  their  strength  for  wider 
and  more  aggressive  movements. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  which  it  is  possible 
to  mention  among  the  visible  achievements  that  are 
susceptible  of  tabulation;  but  no  one  but  God  him- 
self knows  the  unseen  influences  which  have  gone 
forth  through  all  these  agencies  for  the  world's  bet- 
terment, for  the  quickening  of  religious  faith  and 
life,  for  the  unification  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  for 
the  complete  triumph  of  Christianity  in  the  world. 


—259— 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
Some  Unfinished  Tasks. 


Not  that  I  have  already  obtained,  or  am 
already  made  perfect :  but  I  press  on  if  so 
be  that  I  may  lay  hold  on  that  for  which 
also  I  was  laid  hold  on  by  Christ  Jesus. 
Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  yet  to  have  laid 
hold;  but  one  thing  1  do,  forgetting  the 
things  which  are  behind,  and  stretching  for- 
ward to  the  things  which  are  before,  1 
press  on  toward  the  goal  unto  the  prize  of 
the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. — 
Philippians  3  :lz-14. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


Some  Unfinished  Tasks. 

When  any  religious  movement  reaches  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  has  mastered  all  truth  and  has  accom- 
plished the  work  it  was  intended  to  accomplish,  its 
mission,  of  course,  is  ended.  Happily  no  such  feel- 
ing exists,  at  least  among  the  representative  men  of 
this  current  Reformation.  It  is  destined  always  to 
remain  a  current  and  not  a  past  Reformation.  Its 
principles  make  this  a  necessity.  What  are  some  of 
the  unfinished  tasks  which  loom  up  into  view  as  we 
are  closing  the  first  century  of  our  history,  and  look- 
ing out  into  the  new  century  before  us? 

I.  One  of  the  most  important  and  immediately 
pressing  of  these  unfinished  tasks  is  to  permeate  the 
whole  mass  of  our  membership  with  the  leaven  of 
truth  and  of  life  wherewith  the  best  element  among 
us  is  already  leavened.  In  other  words,  it  is  to  bring 
up  the  whole  lagging  column  into  line  with  our  best 
and  most  representative  ministers  and  members, 
churches  and  institutions.  No  religious  body  can 
afford  to  disregard  those  who  are  bringing  up  the 
rear,  and  who,  by  reason  of  education,  temperament, 

—263— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


or  environment,  are  unable  to  make  as  rapid  progress 
as  others.  We  must  seek  to  imbue  all  our  churches 
and  ministers  with  the  same  enthusiasm  for  missions, 
for  education,  and  for  benevolence,  which  now  ani- 
mates our  very  best  members,  ministers  and  churches. 
We  have  already  a  large  number  of  our  churches  and 
a  large  proportion  of  our  members  enlisted  in  some 
form  of  co-operative  work  for  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom,  but  we  must  feel  and  say,  with  our  Mas- 
ter, that  there  are  other  sheep  and  other  flocks  which 
are  not  of  this  co-operative  fold,  and  they,  too,  must 
be  brought  into  blessed  co-operative  union  so  that 
-there  shall  be  one  flock  and  one  Shepherd  in  relation 
to  all  our  national  enterprises.  This  will  require  time, 
tact,  patience  and  long-suffering,  but  we  must  never 
despair  of  accomplishing  it,  at  least  in  so  far  as  those 
are  concerned  who  have  really  felt  the  power  and 
inspiration  of  the  new  life  in  Christ.  What  we  are  doing 
to-day  is  but  a  tithe  of  what  we  might  accomplish  if 
all  our  ministers  and  churches  were  in  line  with 
those  who  are  enlisted  in  this  work  of  advancing  the 
kingdom  of  God.  The  possibilities  of  any  religious 
movement  are  seen  in  the  lives  and  labors  of  its  best 
men.  What  these  have  become  and  are  doing,  others 
can  become  and  accomplish  in  the  same  spirit,  and 
under  the  same  great  Leader. 

2.  "We  know  in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part." 
There  are  many  great  and  vital  parts  in  God's  Word 

—264— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


which  we  apprehend  as  yet  only  vaguely,  and  many 
of  the  old  truths  which  are  familiar  to  us  are  des- 
tined to  assume  new  meanings,  and  new  value  as  we 
grow  up  to  a  clearer  and  deeper  apprehension  of 
them.  There  is  no  perfect  theology.  We  must  "fol- 
low on  to  know  the  I^ord. ' '  We  must  not  close  our 
eyes  nor  our  hearts  to  the  new  truths  which  he  may 
show  us,  nor  to  the  new  and  more  satisfactory  views 
of  old  truths  which  come  with  our  enlarged  Christian 
experience.  This  progress  in  the  knowledge  of  truth 
will  involve  a  change  of  emphasis  which  we  must 
not  fail  to  make  if  we  are  to  keep  step  with  the  great 
providential  movements  of  God  in  the  world.  There 
is  more  to  be  expected  from  a  deeper  knowledge  of 
the  old  truths,  probably,  than  from  any  entirely  new 
truths  that  may  come  into  view.  A  profounder  knowl- 
edge of  God  in  Christ  Jesus;  a  deeper  apprehension 
of  his  love  as  shown  in  the  incarnation,  and  in  the 
cross,  a  clearer  grasp  of  the  amazing  possibilities 
opened  up  to  the  believer  through  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  from  the  dead;  a  more  vivid  realization  of  our 
obligations  to  him,  and  hence  a  more  loyal  submis- 
sion to  his  will  in  all  things,  all  of  which  is  made 
possible  by  the  possession  of  the  divine  Spirit — these 
are  the  chief  sources  of  power  and  of  progress  in  the 
coming  days. 

3.  In  order  to  the  completion  of  the  two  unfin- 
shed  tasks  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs,  it 

—265— 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


is  absolutely  essential  that  another  unfinished  task 
receive  our  immediate,  earnest  attention.  We  refer 
to  the  adequate  endowment  and  equipment  of  our 
institutions  of  learning,  not  alone  for  the  sake  of  an 
educated  ministry,  which  is  vastly  important,  but  for 
the  sake  of  an  educated  membership  in  all  the  pro- 
fessions of  life.  Any  reformation  that  proposes  to  be 
continuous  in  its  adjustment  to  the  needs  of  the  world, 
and  in  its  grasp  of  new  situations,  is  bound  to  lay 
great  emphasis  upon  Christian  education  as  an  essen- 
tial condition  of  carrying  out  such  a  program.  This 
fact  is  so  obvious  that  the  mere  mention  of  it  here 
would  seem  to  be  sufficient. 

4.  Not  the  least  of  our  unfinished  tasks  is  to  make 
practical  application  of  the  knowledge  which  we 
have  already  attained,  in  our  own  Christian  living 
and  to  the  needs  of  the  world  about  us.  The  supreme 
apologetic  for  the  new  times,  and  for  the  coming 
days,  is  the  life  that  reflects  the  image  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  makes  practical  application  of  his 
teaching  to  all  the  relationships  of  life.  The  religious 
body  that  can  give  the  best  exemplification  of  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ  in  what  it  is  doing  for  alleviating 
human  suffering  and  sorrow,  for  bringing  about  better 
conditions  of  life  for  the  poor  and  the  neglected,  and 
that  bears  in  its  body  the  wounds  of  self-sacrifice 
received  in  the  service  of  humanity,  is  the  one  whose 

—266— 


Thk  Story  of  a  Century. 


credentials  will  be  undisputed  in  our  time,  and,  as 
we  believe,  in  tlie  coming  times.  Hitherto  tbe  Ref- 
ormation, during  its  first  century's  existence  has 
been  largely  engaged  in  correcting  abuses  and  errors 
in  the  religious  world,  both  in  doctrine  and  in  prac- 
tice, and  in  finding  and  explaining  to  others  its  basis 
of  unity  and  fellowship  in  Christian  service.  In  this 
second  century  it  remains  for  us  to  apply  this  Chris- 
tianity of  Christ  in  the  solution  of  all  the  problems 
that  affect  the  welfare  of  mankind.  It  is  for  the 
church,  and  especially  for  those  who  claim  to  be  re- 
formers within  the  church,  and  restorers  of  Christ's 
own  gospel  and  methods,  to  become  the  leaders  in  all 
moral  and  social  reforms  which  look  to  the  better- 
ment of  the  world.  It  must  make  manifest  the  truth 
that  Christianity  is  for  the  whole  man,  and  is  a  reg- 
ulative force  in  all  the  relationships  of  human  life — 
personal,  social,  domestic,  political,  commercial — as 
well  as  in  those  which  we  think  of  as  religious  in 
contrast  with  the  secular. 

5.  In  reference  to  Christian  life  itself,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  say,  with  the  apostle,  that  we  are  not 
perfect.  There  is  a  deeper  Christian  experience  than 
we  have  yet  known.  There  are  heights  of  Christian 
joy  and  vision  to  which  we  have  not  yet  attained- 
The  deepening  of  the  religious  life  in  all  our  mem. 
bers  is  one  of  the  great  unfinished  tasks  that  lie  before 
us.    We  shall  never  attain  our  ideal,  but  if  we  are 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


conscious  of  our  imperfections,  and  can  say  with  Paul 
that  with  singleness  of  aim  we  "press  toward  the 
mark,"  we  shall  make  vastly  more  progress  than  to 
rest  in  a  state  of  contentment  with  our  spiritual 
attainments.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  this 
need  is  recognized  in  these  last  years  as  never  before, 
and  this  note  is  being  sounded  in  our  pulpits  as  never 
before.  The  solution  of  many  of  our  problems  is  to 
be  found  in  our  spiritual  growth  and  development. 
This  spiritual  development  can  come  only  through 
Bible  study,  prayer  and  actual  service  for  Christ,  in 
carrying  on  his  work  in  the  world. 

6.  In  common  with  all  other  Christians  we  have 
before  us  the  unfinished  task  of  converting  the  world. 
And  what  a  gigantic  task  that  is!  The  majority  of 
the  human  race  abides  yet  in  pagan  darkness.  But  the 
old  ancient  barriers  of  exclusion  ere  being  removed 
between  nations,  and  inter-commerce,  rapid  inter- 
communication, and  the  mingling  of  peoples  of  all 
nations  have  done  much  to  bring  the  whole  world 
into  close  neighborhood,  and  to  make  it  possible  for 
Christianity  to  measure  strength  with  the  pagan 
religions,  and  to  enter  upon  its  mighty  conquest. 
We  must  never  lose  sight  of  our  responsibility,  along 
with  other  believers  in  Christ,  to  carry  the  light  and 
blessing  of  Christianity  to  the  nations  and  peoples 
that  knov/  not  Christ,  and  are  strangers  to  the  bless- 
ings of  the  Gospel. 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


7.  The  movement  has  not  yet  realized  the  dream 
of  its  fathers  in  bringing  about  the  unity  of  the  people 
of  God.  It  must  never  turn  aside  from  this  unfin- 
ished task.  It  is  not  laboring  alone  to-day,  as  in  the 
beginning,  but  other  mighty  advocates  have  come 
upon  the  field  to  plead  the  same  gracious  cause. 
There  is  danger  that  this  fact,  instead  of  encourag- 
ing us  to  press  on  with  the  good  work,  may  cause 
many  to  turn  aside  because  the  work  is  no  longer 
distinctly  our  own;  and  because,  perchance,  the  union 
for  which  we  have  long  prayed  and  labored  is  not 
coming  in  the  precise  way  we  had  anticipated. 
Jesus  was  crucified  by  those  who  were  expecting  the 
Messiah,  but  who  did  not  accept  him  as  the  Messiah, 
because  he  did  not  come  in  the  way  in  which  they 
had  expected  he  would  come.  I,et  us  beware  that 
we  do  not  crucify  him  afresh  by  refusing  our  appre- 
ciation of,  and  co-operation  with,  all  movements 
which  are  honestly  seeking  to  bring  the  divided 
forces  of  Christ  into  closer  fellowship  with  each  other 
and  into  more  effective  co-operation  in  his  service. 

These  are  great  and  difficult  tasks  which  are  yet 
to  be  completed,  but  we  doubt  not  that  under  the 
leadership  of  Him  whom  alone  we  acknowledge  as 
Lord  and  Christ,  and  who  has  been  our  help  in  the 
past,  we  shall  be  able  to  come  off  more  than  con- 
querors in  carrying  out  the  mission  which  he  has 
given  to  us  in  the  world. 

—269— 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
The  Outlook. 


"Tn  spite,  however,  of  all  their  respon- 
sibilities and  obligations  to  the  past — in 
spite  of  the  duty  incumbent  on  *them  to 
conserve  its  intellectual  as  well  as  its  moral 
attainments — the  pressure  put  upon  the 
churches,  both  from  without  and  from  with- 
in, to  recognize  the  claims  of  intellectual 
liberty,  is  rapidly  becoming  irresistible- 
Christian  people,  who  are  consciously  at  one 
in  their  attitude  to  Christ  and  in  their  sense 
of  obligation  to  Him,  see  that  they  are  kept 
in  different  communions,  and  incapacitated 
from  co-operation  in  work  and  worship,  be- 
cause they  have  inherited  different  theolog- 
ical traditions  to  which  they  are  assumed  to 
be  bound.  Without  entering  into  any  dis- 
cussion of  what  these  theological  traditions 
— call  them  creeds,  confessions,  testimonies, 
or  whatever  else — are  worth,  they  feel  in 
their  souls  that  they  are  not  bound  to  them, 
and  ought  not  to  be,  with  the  same  kind  of 
bond  which  secures  their  allegiance  to 
Christ.  For  the  sake  of  getting  nearer  to 
those  who  share  this  allegiance,  and  co- 
operating with  them  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord  who  holds  their  hearts,  they  contem- 
plate with  more  equanimity  the  slackening 
or  dissolution  of  the  bonds  which  attach 
them  to  the  theology,  or,  if  we  prefer  to 
call  it  so,  the  Christian  thought  of  the 
past." — "Jesus  and  the  Gospel,'^  hy  James 
Denney,  D,  JJ^ 


—272— 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


The  Outlook. 

Such  is  the  origin,  history  and  achievements  of 
the  restoration  movement  of  the  Campbells,  very 
briefly  and  inadequately  stated.  If  it  be  a  providen- 
tial movement,  we  may  rest  assured  that  it  is  only 
in  the  beginnings  of  its  history,  and  that  vastly 
greater  things  are  to  be  accomplished  in  the  coming 
years  than  have  yet  been  realized.  But  just  what 
particular  form  its  activities  will  assume,  no  human 
mind  can  forecast.  As  the  Lutheran  reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century  is  represented  in  the  common 
Protestantism  of  our  day,  so  it  is  not  unlikely,  indeed, 
it  is  extremely  probable,  that  the  Campbellian  re- 
formation of  the  nineteenth  century  is  to  be  repre- 
sented more  and  more  in  the  future  in  the  great 
Protestant  evangelical  bodies  of  Christendom.  Even 
now,  it  is  to  be  estimated  less  as  a  distinct  move- 
ment than  as  a  permeating  influence  which  has  more 
or  less  affected  the  religious  thought  and  life  of  our 
times. 

What  is  the  outlook,  at  the  close  of  a  century,  of 
this  religious  movement  as  regards  the  realization  of 
(18)  —273— 


The  Story  of  a  Ckntury. 


its  dream  of  a  united  Churcli?  Some  facts  standout 
with  such  distinctness  in  the  present  religious  situa- 
tion that  only  the  blind  can  fail  to  see  them.  Let 
us  mention  a  few  of  these  facts  as  forming  the  basis 
of  the  present  outlook: 

1.  The]  old  antagonisms  and  the  bitter  party- 
spirit;  which  at  one  time  prevailed  between  different 
religious  bodies,  have  largely  ceased  to  exist.  The 
walls  of  separation  between  the  different  Protestant 
bodies  are  much  less  formidable  than  they  used  to 
be,  and  people  pass  from  one  to  another  with  a  free- 
dom that  was  once  unknown. 

2.  This  new  feeling  of  fraternity  among  all  the 
followers  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  result,  not 
of  indifference  to  religious  truth,  as  some  assert,  but 
to  a  growing  unity  of  thought  and  feeling  touching 
the  great  fundamental  and  essential  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  freedom  of  intercourse,  and  of  inter- 
communication, and  of  interdenominational  fellow- 
ship and  co-operation,  which  has  been  on  the  in- 
crease for  many  years,  has  produced  this  growing 
unity  of  faith  and  feeling.  There  has  also  been  great 
progress  in  the  distinction  between  matters  which 
are  vital  and  essential  in  the  religious  faith,  and 
those  which  are  incidental  and  non-essential. 

3.  There  is  manifest  to-day  a  dissatisfaction 
and  discontent  in  the  religious  world  with  its  pres- 
ent condition,  and  a  desire  for  something  better, 

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which  are  prophetic  of  future  changes.  Very  few, 
if  any,  well-informed  people  feel  that  the  church  is 
to-day  in  a  normal  condition,  and  prepared  to  do  the 
work  which  Christ  expects  it  to  do.  All  thoughtful 
men  seem  to  recognize  the  fact  that  it  is  now  in  a 
transition  state,  passing  from  the  older  Protestant- 
ism of  mutual  antagonisms  to  the  newer  Catholicism, 
in  which  both  liberty  and  unity  are  to  be  conserved, 
and  Christian  fellowship  shall  be  coextensive  with 
Christian  discipleship,  and  in  which  the  erstwhile 
hostile  tribes  of  Protestantism  shall  become  allies, 
making  common  cause  for  the  advancement  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  its  triumph  in  the  world. 

4.  Christ  is  coming  to  his  own  in  these  last 
days.  As  Principal  Fairbairn  pointed  out,  a  few 
years  ago,  there  is  a  ^'new  feeling''  for  Christ  in  our 
day.  This  *'new  feeling"  grows  out  of  a  clearer  rec- 
ognition of  his  rightful  place,  both  in  theology  and 
in  the  church.  It  is  this  new  feeling  for  Christ,  this 
clearer  recognition  of  his  divine  authority  and  sole 
leadership,  that  holds  the  key  to  the  future.  He  is 
to  solve  all  of  our  problems  for  us,  and  he  is  to  lead 
us  out  of  our  divisions,  strifes  and  rivalries,  into  unity 
and  co-operation  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  There 
is  no  other  fact  that  gives  the  church  so  bright  an 
outlook  as  this  growing  ascendency  of  Christ  in  the 
thought  and  life  of  men. 

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The  Story  of  a  Century. 


5.  The  growing  unity  of  the  world,  brought 
about  by  the  means  of  rapid  intercommunication  be- 
tv^een  nations,  is  bringing  Christianity  into  contact 
with  the  various  heathen  religions  as  never  before. 
The  v;orld,  spanned  by  railroads  and  steamships,  and 
bound  together  by  submarine  cables,  is  too  small  to 
be  occupied  very  long  jointly  by  heathenism  and 
Christianity.  The  contest  is  now  on.  One  or  the 
other  must  go  down  in  the  struggle,  and  all  history 
teaches  that  Christianity  is  to  be  the  triumphant 
force.  But  when  the  ethnic  religions  have  gone 
down  before  Christianity,  the  age-long  foe  of  religion, 
godlessness,  will  remain,  and  then  comes  the  great 
conflict  between  the  forces  of  righteousness  under 
Christ  and  the  forces  of  evil  under  Satan.  We  are 
now  in  the  beginnings  of  this  great  conflict.  It  is 
the  nascent  consciousness  of  this  fact  that  is  drawing 
Christians  of  different  names  and  creeds  together  in 
preparation  for  the  mighty  struggle.  Antagonistic 
religions  can  not  coexist  in  the  same  civilization. 
Christianity  affects  too  profoundly  the  very  structure 
of  our  political,  social,  commercial  and  domestic  life 
to  permit  it  to  dwell  in  peace  with  the  ethnic  relig- 
ions, or  with  atheism,  which  is  the  negation  of  the 
claims  of  all  religion.  It  alone  possesses  those  ele- 
ments of  universality  which  fit  it  for  a  universal  re- 
ligion, and  it  is  prepared  to  welcome  any  contest 

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that  will  enable  it  to  measure  strength  with  oppos- 
ing religions. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  religious  movement  whose  history  we  have 
briefly  sketched,  falls  into  beautiful  harmony  with 
these  tendencies,  and  has  itself  been  a  factor  in  bring- 
ing them  about.  What  the  times  demand,  what  the 
world  needs,  what  the  exigencies  of  the  coming  con- 
flict call  for,  is  a  church  united  under  the  sole  lead- 
ership of  Jesus  Christ,  clearly  distinguishing  between 
the  fundamentals  and  the  incidentals  of  Christianity, 
and  uniting  its  strength  in  a  common  warfare  against 
opposing  forces.  To  bring  the  church  into  this  con- 
dition of  unity  and  of  preparation  for  the  great  con- 
flict, has  been  the  steadfast  purpose  of  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  nineteenth  century.  With  the  tenden- 
cies of  the  age  such  as  we  have  described,  such  a 
movement,  if  true  to  its  aim  and  to  the  spirit  of  its 
founders,  and  especially  if  true  to  Him  whom  alone 
they  acknowledge  as  Leader,  must,  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  things,  have  before  it  a  triumphant  career. 
If  it  please  God  that  more  and  more  in  the  future 
the  things  for  which  we  have  stood  as  a  religious 
movement  shall  be  taken  up  by  others  until  our  own 
plea  shall  have  become  less  distinctive  than  it  once 
was,  let  us  have  the  grace  and  humility  to  rejoice  at 
this  fact,  and  count  it  a  sufficient  honor  to  have  been 
pioneers  in  a  cause  so  worthy  as  to  have  enlisted  the 


The  Story  of  a  Century. 


sympathies  and  commanded  the  approval  and  co- 
operation of  all  true  and  faithful  followers  of  our  L^ord 
Jesus  Christ. 

What  the  second  century  will  reveal  as  to  the  fu- 
ture of  this  Reformation  and  of  the  Church  universal, 
none  but  God  can  foresee.  We  can  not  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  under  God's  guidance  and  blessing,  it  is 
to  go  forward  with  increasing  power  and  usefulness. 
It  is  ours  to  serve  God  and  our  generation  according 
to  the  best  light  we  have,  and  to  transmit  to  those 
who  shall  come  after  us  the  task  of  carrying  forward 
toward  completion  the  great  work  whose  beginnings 
only  we  have  been  able  to  see.  In  a  little  while  we 
shall  assemble  in  a  national  convention  at  Pittsburg, 
to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  first  century  of  our 
history.  I^t  us  pray  that  it  may  also  be  the  begin- 
ning of  a  second  century  that  shall  be  marked  by  a 
greater  consecration  and  devotion  to  Him  who  loved 
the  Church  and  gave  himself  for  it,  and  who  prayed 
for  its  unity  in  Him.  To  His  name  be  glory  and 
honor  and  dominion,  both  now  and  evermore! 


—278— 


Date  Due 


fE  17 

• 

